Arc Tangent

Arc Tangent is composed of two prose-poem sequences, "Arc Tangent" and "Table of Primaries," hybrid works made up of prose, poetry and fragments collaged from a working notebook, and occasionally using appropriated text. Both pieces show evidence of Selland's deep roots in the American Modernist tradition and his lifelong experience with the language and poetry of Japan. His writing is dense, allusive, philosophically informed, and combines the surprise and formal interest of collage with a striking unity of tone, a haibun-like lyricism, and a powerful engagement with issues of displacement, exile and "at-home-ness." "Eric Selland's lyric work possesses a poise and nuance reminiscent of the French symbolist vision of Japonisme, wherein the slightest brushstroke or flute-breath causes the entire universe to veer. This is writing that moves along the verge of the unsayable, enacting a deep study of the mystery of everyday life" (Andrew Joron). "Arc Tangent's exquisite collage challenges our perception like a delicate puzzle whose truths intersect, changing as they move through the present moment, yet fitting together perfectly even as they pass. Your hand finds comfort turning these pages, image disappears into question then reappears profoundly unanswered, as sound submerges amid clear water" (Colleen Lookingbill).