A Dire Shortage of Usable Meaning

Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody writes across and between English and French, but also from within language itself. His mysterious collection, aptly titled A Dire Shortage of Usable Meaning, rises from parentheses, suspended syntax, and silence. It's almost as if he's reinvented English so his poems can cross, not just linguistic boundaries, but the frontier between the living and the dead in a ghostly archaeology. "And let us listen, listen," he pleads, "for the twang of taut silk / and other imp...