The Totality for Kids Book

Clover's most recent book of poetry, "The Totality of Kids", maintains a focus on the urban, the metropolis, despite its seemingly scattered references and many intertwining themes. A fabulous combination of intellect, wit, and biting sarcasm with respect to the modern era overrun with socialites and directed by pop culture, "The Totality of Kids" manages to harp on the newest generation's obsessions with originality and escape without sounding too much like a bitter outcast that often translates in similarly themed works. One thing that I found especially interesting was Clover's ability to link different poems throughout the collection, like "A Boy's Own Story", "Kantine", and "Auteur Theory", which repeat a list of places and scenarios, in no specific order, over and over. Despite containing the same words and phrases, the order in which Clover arranges them (thus creating a new poem) adds new poetic meaning. Though often criticized, I feel as if such an open-ended interpretation and approach to poetry is what truly makes it artistic; giving the reader the power and even ability to interpret and make meaning out of the work presented by the author, in the successful manner that Clover does, is what truly makes the collection for me.

What makes me especially partial to Clover's collection are the never-ending references to popular culture and social media and the way in which he manages to spin the two effortlessly. The social commentary rampant throughout the collection truly resonated with me, one of my favorite lines coming from "Poem (We always send it to the wrong address)":

We lie down in categories
And wake up in concepts but must there be so much of the day spent
tracking stray remarks and others' hearts
And maintaining a casual balance between Oxycontin and "poetic prose"
So new sensations emerge? Meanwhile but I am happy
To see you! Its enough but not of anything.

The incredible depth of the commentary that Clover manages to convey in what is normally considered shallow muses and trivial thoughts of youth is something that most audiences can relate to, having either already experienced the same feeling or currently going through them. Furthermore, the melodramatic flare that most people regard such adolescent topics with is not at all overdone, but rather delicately placed with just the right amount of genuine truth and regard. The way in which the tone changes from 'new sensations emerge?' to 'Meanwhile I am happy to see you!' is the perfect example of such, perfectly capturing the shallow, fake overtones that have come to overrule social interactions today.

An important thing to note about Clover's style is his limited use of punctuation; commas are mostly lacking and run-on sentences appear in just about every poem. While this aspect of poetry generally bothers me, I feel as if this adds so much more to his work; it lends the work yet another genuine feeling, as if you are actually speaking or reading the thoughts of an adolescent. Also, the variation in line breaks works nicely throughout the collection, a specific example of innovative breaks and text design is "CA IRA", in which the different lines are fashioned around a circle, in a sun-like design. The freedom to arrange the clauses in any order resonates with the adolescent feel of the entire collection, a recklessness and youthful abandon that makes the collection at once fun, refreshing, and absolutely believable and endearing.