The Feel Trio

Fred Moten’s poetry collection Feel Trio reminded me of jazz on my first reading, and this was before I had looked up the Feel Trio to learn it was a jazz band or before I had fully understood the many references to jazz and melody contained within the poems. Like jazz, his three long poems are nuanced, improvisational, flowing and even discordant at times. Each poem – broken over dozens of pages and feeling like separate poems within a poem – appear as a present to unpack for its references and layers of meaning, ranging from Afrofuturism to literary theory to America’s civil rights movement. In the second page of the poem titled “I ran from it and was still in it,” Moten refers to “my bent grammar.” I read the phrase as a nod to his poetry in the improvisational style of jazz.Moten pushes poetic form and language toward their limits in this collection, using many different techniques to force his readers to pause and consider his message closely. At times, a reader of his poems could feel more like an archaeologist, unearthing references and connections once held deep in the subconscious of the poet.

Well, it finished in the top five for the National Poetry Award this year - and is a delightful poetictake on jazz and life - a truly interesting and fun read.

It seems to be all about how the author feels. It is very well written, so it flows better than the vast majority of books of read, which has yet to surpass 60 books.

If you like Cecil Taylor, and especially his famous feel trio, you hope to learn anything about this music. But this book is poetry that has no visible connection to Taylor's trio. This title is a fake, sorry.

A phenomenal volume from Fred Moten.

I love it.