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Carol Watts
When blue light falls
reviewed by Robert Grenier.
£4.00 A5 20pp. ISBN: 978-1-905885-11-4. Oystercatcher Press, 4 Coastguard Cottages, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk PE36 6EL Cheques payable to P Hughes. UK post free. Overseas postage at cost.
This review is about 2 printed pages long. It is copyright © Robert Grenier and Jacket magazine 2008.See our [»»] Copyright notice.
Who is “blue” (I’m not, Are You) ?
Who is ‘blue’ & WHAT is “blue” ? ?
I’m going to tell you a secret — Carol Watts’ When blue light falls is the ‘direct result’ of a ‘trip’ by an ‘Englander’ to (“North Dakota”) the contemporary WILDERNESS OF NORTH AMERICA, on a ‘scholarly expedition’ to These States, AND (in a ‘motel’, or somewhere) NOW SHE REALIZES WHERE SHE IS, & in an attempt to ‘explore the territory’ with her ‘contemporary equipment’ she has documented, in words, what she was Able to Write (with striking ‘cunning of heart’!), in situ, of this place !
“blue”, however (as well as the fact of her grandmother’s dying, everpresent in her mind—i.e., see dedication), is not nearly well enough defined (for my taste)—Our Heroine finds herself ‘OUT THERE’ (Wilds of North Dakota)(while ‘representing Civilisation’!) & she still can’t say/’agree’ (w/ herself) that ANY of THE MANY ‘REPRESENTATIONS OF BLUE’ are Anything but ‘Imposters’ – HOW SO ? ?
Carol Watts, «When blue light falls», cover art
Is “blue” the (‘real’?) way the ‘bowl of the sky’ looks (to us humans)(in an ongoing familiarising/’cultural’ representation) OR is there ‘something-blue’ (inhabiting) ‘behind/or & above’ everything that happens ? (perhaps as we speak, Carol Watts is already ‘writing the solution’ to this age-old problem/possibility of manifestation of ‘something’ (“blue”—e.g. the ‘blue-green’ of anybody’s eyes) when the very intensive/extensive ‘evidence’ (‘of it’) ALSO (‘dramatically’) EVIDENCES “BLUE” (i.e. ‘THIS-AND-SOMETHING-ELSE’))?
Some eyes are “blue” (it says so, on the driver’s licenses, below the picture, of the person(s) so represented) – so we Say ! !
I want to read what Carol Watts next says (or, in this ongoing investigation/testament, writes) – so that I might ‘come to understand’ (!) some further part of what (landscape?) “blue” is/is not ! !
It ‘partakes’ of those places where (i.e. When blue light falls does), even if (whatever) “blue” is/does not (tho one may (seem to) reside w/in it fleetingly—as in these opening sequences !) ‘appear’, later on it ‘might’ (even w/in my lifetime)(advance thanks to her!)!
I worry that, though I wait around here forever (cloudy)(‘unlikely’!), real “blue” is NOT EVER GOING TO APPEAR ! !
— Robert Grenier
Bolinas, CA
October 8, 2008