Quantum Entanglement
(selections from)
Uncertainty Principle
there are features of this universe that cannot be known with complete precision positions and velocities between two constants that hinge upon an unpredictability of motion but as distance scales them immeasurably closer their particles will dance between every possibility and the two constants will find themselves in a frenzied state of uncertainty
Pink Camellias
you write that they represent longing a twitch in the chest fire in your cheeks Solnit called it blue the flame of desire endless distance between two points the ocean a linen London sky call it love but never write such a thing oh cliché, cliché, cliché darling but what's a cliché if not the hardest truth
String Theory II
I am watching the sunset burn away the blue distance you are looking for stars because I promised them to you and you hold me to my promise when they do appear the sky shows us in clear focus that there is no ground beneath our feet I say we can't look down because that's when you fall but you tell me in an infinite universe we are always looking down and it's okay to fall
Garden State
the manic pixie dream girl the disaffected young man find love in a blur of bad indie rock and quirky dialogue at the airport he rushes back to her because he has to it's how the scene is written she doesn't want to cry he doesn't want to live in Jersey yet that's how the movie ends sometimes it fucking hurts but it's sort of all we have
The Art of Treason
Tony said to write is a treason so I understand why it's impossible to translate the way my stomach twists itself like a fish in a net whenever I look in your eyes despite the wall of distance or how my thoughts fog like a breath-drunk mirror when you speak or even something as simple as the minor uptick in my heartbeat from the way you punctuate our conversation something will always be lost in the translation but still we write because our treasonous hearts have no other recourse
Gary Reddin is a writer, poet, and journalist from Oklahoma. He grew up among the cicada songs and tornado sirens and his voice was born in that dissonance. He has an MFA from Lindenwood University. He is the author of “An Abridged History of American Violence” (Rose Rock Press, 2019). His work has appeared most recently in The Dillydoun Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, The Oklahoma Review and Essay Daily. You can follow him on Twitter at @andrewreddin.
TIP THE POET
Interview with Gary Reddin
Why Poetry?
I suppose the easy answer is “why not,” but I guess I should say something more profound. Well, for starters, I’m not a poet. Not in the traditional, prescriptive sense anyway. I’m just a writer who happens to indulge in poetry from time to time. I consider myself form/genre agnostic. I write in whatever form or genre suits the topic. So for this (these were a part of my MFA thesis) it was poetry.
Where does a poem start for you?
I consider my poetry highly fictionalized. So oftentimes it starts with a song lyric I heard, a story I read/wrote, or just a random intrusive thought. That idea then propagates into a poem. Not all the time, but most of the time this is how it starts.
How long does it take for you to write a single poem?
It’s fairly subjective. I have written poems in less than five minutes before. Others need to simmer for a little longer. I rarely, if ever, finish a poem in a single sitting. Sure there may be a bunch of lines on the page, but I will come back to them and revise over and over until I’ve cut the excess away and am left with the meat of the thing.
Who are you currently reading?
I’m reading Annie Dillard’s craft book currently, which is lovely. I’m also enjoying reading back through some of Rebecca Solnit’s work
Was this sequence an intrusive thought or song lyric?
This sequence of poems all come from my collection “Quantum Entanglement,” and sort of run the gamut in terms of inspiration. If you have ever seen the movie Garden State you probably recognize where the inspiration for my poem of the same name came from. The Art of Treason is a bit of a love letter to Anthony Bourdain’s famous quote about writing being a kind of treason. Pink Camellias was inspired by a book that a good friend of mine wrote about a florist living in London. And the other two are both bits of ephemera inspired by quantum mechanics.
What are some features of poems that you enjoy when you read?
I love a good turn of phrase, a word used in an unusual or surprising way, or an intriguing use of white space.
How has writing poetry influenced your writing?
I think the biggest influence is on cadence. Poetry has a natural rhythm to it that I think often bleeds over into my other writing, particularly my creative nonfiction which often tends to lean more toward long-form narrative poetry.
Black Stone / White Stone 