Cells of Absolute Property, by Ariel Beller

Poetry, chapbook, 44 pages, from Bottlecap Features. Typed out exactly as it appeared from a handwritten journal, this poetry sequence shows a complete disregard for traditional literary forms, punctuation, grammar, or even an individual style.  Much of it is lifted language, and the numbers in this long sequence are in fact the page numbers written on the pages of the original journal.  The book is the author’s response to the typed-out journal of another writer, which he found to be absolutely awful.   The conceit lay within its opening quote by Henry Miller, "One speaks of man’s potential nature as though it were a contradiction of the one he reveals." "I love to imagine Beller's Cells of Absolute Property as 74 separate speaking roles for nearly any group chorus scenario possible: members of HAVI (Health Alliance For Violence Intervention) quarterly meeting notes, final journal entries of British soldiers missing after Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812), Pelican Bay State prisoner