Against Aghamohammadi:
A Review of BATTALION SHAPED GIRL by Temperance Aghamohammadi and how it and Discount Guillotine Fuck Free Speech
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by Sterling Davis
All my respect for Temperance Aghamohammadi and her frothy, porny book has dissipated. Now my objection is not due to its turgid, revanchist, vaguely sinister style. Or the hackneyed philosophical asides. Or the Wish.com mysticism. I can take all of that. (In small doses) My objection is more substantive. Temperance Aghamohammadi, a self-styled "acolyte of the exquisite" (whatever that means) and her publisher Discount Guillotine, headed (pun intended) by Maya Something have made the facetious and outrageous claim that Alaina Hammond's evenhanded review published in Issue 1.5 is sexualizing Aghamohammadi's obviously horny, pretentious poems. How risible! How completely un-self aware is this Aghamohammadi? Has Aghamohammadi even read her book? Perhaps she hasn't, which is understandable. How does one "sexualize" a book which is emphatically about sex? And what kind of mutilated psyche would claim a false victimization narrative and attempt to silence the voice of others while, right now, in our present moment, people are being silenced for merely expressing their opinion. America and the entire world are in a crisis regarding free speech. People are dying. And Aghamohammadi and Discount Guillotine are attempting to silence voices in this precarious time for free speech. This dangerous behavior must be acknowledged. This counterfeit claim of victimization and sexualization of Aghamohammadi's book is impossible because Aghamohammadi sexualized her book herself. Her book is essentially a PornHub prose poem. Please allow me to share just a few lines from BATTALION SHAPED GIRL: "semen weeps from the mouth of an iris" ("Matryoshka" p. 6) "Around ankles denim shorts crush. My face in his lap. Palm on the back of my head. As the cars drive past." ("Some Odyssey" p. 44) "I’m astride your waist, shirtless, grinning." ("Object Reality" p. 62) And we're the assholes for saying your book is about sex? Girl, chill. Stand against censorship and support Poetries in English today. Sterling Davis is the Executive Editor of Poetries in English Magazine. |