Post 9/11: The Way I Be

by Herschel Silverman. 2004 52 pages. Butcher Shop Press, 529 Beach 132nd St. Rockaway Beach, NY 11694.

Book Review by Michael Basinski

Herschel Silverman writes on the first page of this book, ‘In the wake of 9/11 this is an attempt to capture the chaos.’ and, ‘The meaning is in the method and in the doing.’ I must rush write and say that this Herschel Silverman silver bullet is in the pistol of The Lone Ranger poem is upper super successful becauSings (yes SINGS) a meshSING of his two first page statements. Silverman at his peak poetry is a beat Beat rhythmic urban machine New Jersey ensemble that word notes along and swoops your ear up in its terrific traffic of words that gets you go from title to end Ding ding dong. SAMPLE :::::SEE::::HEAR::::

half-notes on Verso St.
beap beap beap bog old faults
plurally discover meanings darling
meaning waht waht could be
zeros like butterfly babble
or new wine acrid acidic so it develops
and I'm colored like wow yah web
a tower of hi-fi tapes

It’s a talking music of being and being out on the street and in between the gush roooosh of cars and horns and words of all of russsssssssssshzz talking is the material of Silverman’s art, which is half hearing and half speaking jazz riffs and half a cup of last night coffee or help empty beer of time. He keeps time and grows tomatoes. I mean this computer here keept wanting to correct his word: WAHT buy making it WHAT. I mean that is how he bends the words to his language and not easy and it is art because the damned darn conventional machine I am on wants its conservative order. Not so for H. Silverman keeper of the subway gate tympani.