USEREVIEW 026 (Capsule): Cephalopography 2.0
Rasiqra Revulva
Cephalopography 2.0 (Wolsak & Wynn, 2020)
ISBN 978-1-989496084 | 104 pp | $20 CAD
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Never has poetry felt so much like a marine biology-themed museum-cum-amusement park as it does in Rasiqra Revulva’s exuberant, endlessly clever Cephalopography 2.0 (Wolsak & Wynn, 2020). What doesn’t this debut collection offer? From Revulva’s take on traditional forms, to vispo, to crossword puzzles (yes, you read that right), the book is a deep-diver, as malleable and startling as the cephalopods it intensely, linguistically studies. It’s worth reading every poem once for the sonic pleasure of it — “if an / hourglass lurked / half-submerged in white sand, / could an octopus measure a / minute?” — and a second time for the philosophical resonance.
Recommended excerpt:
Don’t miss “Free the Niqabi!” a villanelle that I would bet is unlike any you’ve read before.
