And So

Author: Joel Brouwer

Publisher: Four Way Books (2009)

Joel Brouwer’s And So is a cynical yet energetic study of the ways we account for the lives we lead. “Which you are you?” one poem asks, while another surprises itself by switching from third-person to first-person: “but what am I doing in here.” Another relates an anecdote about reality, representation, and anecdotes themselves: “When someone told Picasso his portrai t/ of Stein did not look like her, he said It will. When someone told Picasso that Stein did / not look like her portrait, he said She will. / The story has been told both ways. Which is / itself another story.”