South China Sea is a poet's autobiography. Forgoing the props of conventional narrative, the book travels through space and time, revealing the moments in a life that anchor reality and constitute memory. In poems that compel us to remember and to re-evaluate our own personal stories, Norris travels back to a New York City childhood and to his years as a young man in the art and literary scene of Montreal, while moving forward in the present on a soul-changing journey through China. In the pages of South China Sea, memory and experience dance together through the complex maze of existence.
Red light! //
Tom is in the air. //
Artie says no, no, no /
to all this rehashing /
of Dada and Surrealism. //
A verb tied to a possessive /
handcuffed to an adjectivized /
noun. //
Tennis balls, no, /
goat feet. //
There's a simultaneity /
in the air, and Nancy says /
it just won't do. //
Lost
in the General,
misunderstanding.