I guess the number of gumballs in a jar. I’m off by just one gumball. “I’m pink,” it whispers, & then leaps into my mouth & chews me
–Patricia Lockwood, Naked Star Recipient
Poetry is as enigmatic as sexuality. Both can be beautiful, but also ugly. Both have their own rhythms, their own beats, their own patterns. And most importantly, both have rules, but are better when those rules are broken. And that’s exactly what this week’s Naked Star celebrates: the rebellious work of Patricia Lockwood, the poet who translated ‘sexts’ into a literary genre.
Artbase Rhizome recently featured Lockwood in their staff blog, highlighting the special quality of her tweeted poems: ”the genre congeals gobs of glowing poetry from networked life’s greasy stew of blunt spam copy, collaged pop culture, and constant little spells of titillation.”
I’m particularly drawn to the way she blends eroticism, poetry and pop culture into one, bite-sized tweet. She is the love child of Catallus and T.S. Elliot, who was then babysat by Sarah Silverman. Maybe its the constant references to childhood characters like Garfield and Scrooge McDuck, but Lockwood’s ‘sexts’ are at once adult and childish, filthy and innocent. They embrace sex as a literary theme that should not be feared or censored, but played with and challenged.
Also, they’re funny as hell.
Read more of Patricia’s poetry and sexts on her website, Emperor of Ice Cream Cakes.
The Naked Star is given to a website or article that has shown awesome bravery in expressing truth in the areas of psychology, health, sexuality and/or culture.
