Although Nicole Nesca’s “15” begins with a quote from Allen Ginsberg,
Follow your inner moonlight;
don’t hide the madness
Nesca’s writing reminds me more of d.a.levy and his connection to bpNichol: from Ohio to Canada across the black lake, Lake Erie. While levy and Nesca share the practice of often typing exclusively uppercase, Nesca’s “15” demonstrates how her and levy both fearlessly express hatred/paranoia alongside love, speak from a working-class POV, and engage the colonial history of North America.
Beyond how Nesca’s writing may continue traditions of renegade publishing — Cleveland, Toronto, San Francisco, or New York — her writing in “15” is varied: moving through the concrete, reflective memoir, and spastic street performances. Additionally, each piece of writing is accompanied by Nesca’s own photography, drawings, paintings, and sketches.
Anyhow, what’s a book review? An advertisement? Analysis? A Face at the Front of Shop?
Instead of reviewing the characteristics of Nesca’s prose and poetry, I wrote a reply to “15”:
August
walking under
through moonlight
walking under streetlights
broken
mooncalf laughing
or crying like the sun’s
broken face
— no where
bought-and-paid-for
lives livers veins tits brains
hammered
tiger moth
laughing crying
with one sound
she sits on a moon throne
watching him say a love-sound
shattered window
loving himself
as saying his sound of love
asphalt surrounding sewer grate
the self coming before
after giving lilacs
feeling nothing
yet bleeding out
into our burning river
no windows
every face
no moonlight
every question
no faces
white rays of sun
the howl of a cutting wind
above our silent street
below our silent street
undreamed words
above a bridge of clouds
below a bridge of clouds
— puddlethumb, alex benedict