Pattie McCarthy

Nulls Pattie McCarthy

Poetry. In Pattie McCarthy's wonderful new collection, NULLS, we are compelled to consider a collage of possible meetings which ultimately lead to birth-the birth of the poem, the birth of assumption, the birth of identity, and the birth of expectations and restraints which press upon any person with the aspiration to decode domestic entropy and to deftly shepherd living form. With urgency you will be asked, 'WHO SAYS THAT WOLVES ARE BAD MOTHERS?' and 'DO YOU HAVE YOUR EXHAUSTION LETTER?' McCarthy's asking is hypnotic, acute and probes discrete categories of collapse. NULLS beautifully demonstrates how iteration can become palimpsest, how 'invisible ink' may 'make your mouth noun' and how interrogation can cause fracture. NULLS provides proof that texts can change the dimensions of mental space and transmute or reveal the inaudible which exists alongside any transcription.--Laynie Browne