Truffle Hound
Luke Kennard
- LUKE
- KENNARD's
- first
- pamphlet
- in
- six
- years
- –
- Truffle
- Hound
- –
- kicked
- off
- our
- experimental
- pamphlet
- series
- with
- a
- bang
- in
- 2018.
- More
- resolutely
- prose
- than
- any
- of
- his
- previous
- books
- of
- poetry
- (although
- not
- his
- novel)
- here
- Luke
- allows
- his
- childhood
- (imagined
- or
- otherwise)
- to
- flood
- into
- the
- foreground,
- while
- his
- present
- (factual
- or
- fake
- news)
- distorts
- and
- fractures
- as
- if
- his
- life
- were
- being
- directed
- by
- David
- Lynch
- and
- Terry
- Gilliam
- and
- neither
- could
- agree
- whether
- horror
- or
- comedy
- should
- dominate.
- Dogs,
- cigarettes,
- children
- and
- pills
- shouldn't
- really
- be
- permitted
- to
- mix
- should
- they?
- Here
- they
- are
- a
- heady
- mixture
- indeed!With
- that
- nonchalant
- way
- that
- Luke
- has
- of
- seeming
- to
- toss
- words
- as
- if
- they
- were
- his
- hair,
- Truffle
- Hound
- piles
- neuroses
- on
- top
- of
- neuroses
- (not
- necessarily
- Luke's)
- as
- it
- tackles
- subjects
- as
- wildly
- varying
- and
- yet
- somehow
- connected
- as
- over
- the
- counter
- pain-killers,
- the
- domestic
- struggles
- of
- humans
- on
- other
- planets,
- scathing
- criticism
- (both
- literary
- and
- personal),
- transistor
- radios
- and
- shops
- –
- an
- inordinate
- amount
- of
- shops.
- (The
- shops
- are
- where
- you
- can
- buy
- the
- pills
- and
- cigarettes
- and
- food
- for
- the
- dogs.)We
- found
- out
- today
- that
- in
- some
- colleges
- across
- the
- land,
- a
- certain
- kind
- of
- poetic
- output
- is
- sometimes
- described
- as
- being
- Kennardian.
- We
- don't
- know
- if
- Truffle
- Hound
- is
- Kennardian
- or
- not.
- (Perhaps
- it
- is
- Neo-Kennardian?)
- But
- we
- are
- hoping
- that
- one
- day
- soon,
- something,
- somewhere,
- of
- very
- little
- interest
- if
- needs
- be,
- will
- be
- referred
- to
- as
- Vervian.
- We
- are
- hoping
- this
- a
- lot.Luke
- Kennard
- is
- a
- poet
- and
- novelist.
- His
- books
- have
- been
- shortlisted
- for
- the
- Forward
- Prize,
- the
- Desmond
- Elliott
- Prize
- and
- the
- International
- Dylan
- Thomas
- Prize.
- He
- lectures
- in
- the
- School
- of
- English
- at
- the
- University
- of Birmingham.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
