The Organizing Principle Is No Organizing Principle: On the Bears, the Patriots, ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead,’ and ‘Milk & Filth’
By Adam Boretz
It’s Year in Reading time over at The Millions, which, for the purposes of FBC, means one thing: I did not have time to write a proper post about Carmen Giménez Smith’s Milk & Filth. Which is why, Gentle Reader, you are reading this piece, which is pretty much entirely lacking in any organizing principle and, in point of fact, more closely resembles a diary entry or random collection thoughts than an actual blog post.
- The Bears — with Jay Cutler at the helm! — beat the Packers at Lambeau Field, something that has, to my knowledge, not happened in like five years. I’m loath the give to much credit Cutler or the Bears — I mean, let’s be honest, the win probably came down to the Ditka Curse. Also: I didn’t watch the game. Or even see the highlights. But nonetheless: Bears Win!
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The Patriots lost to the Broncos, ending all that fucking annoying talk about the team having a perfect season. I didn’t watch this game either — but the last time I was this excited about a final scoreline was when West Ham got promoted back in 2012.
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I finally got around to watching the first episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead — and it was glorious. If you’re a Bruce Campbell/Evil Dead fan, the new show is pretty much exactly what you’d want it to be. For no reason other than I wanted to see it again, here’s the show’s trailer:
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Man, I think Rob was pretty much right on when he talked about Milk & Filth being bad-ass and radical. And while that is probably an oversimplification of what he was saying, the point is that I really loved the book: how Giménez Smith writes about her desire for her art to be powerful and revolutionary — and how that made me want my art to be powerful and revolutionary. I dogeared all the poems I wanted to mention in this piece — “Parts of an Autobiography,” “Radicalization,” “Labor Day,” “The Daughter” — but, in the end, it seemed like I’d dogeared every other page. So instead, let’s just end with two of my favorite lines:
From “Rosy Complextion:” “I do nothing with my urges because they are manufactured urges.”
From “Can We Talk Here:” “Before I write poems, the laptop take a pain killer.”
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