#negative money

[smokefalls]

Again I straddle the blade thinking / This is the time it will fill the gash.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, "Maine Coast" from Negative Money

[stoosie]

guys I’m -$300 in my bank account as anADULT WOMAN. idk what to do other than wait for my paycheck but my cats need food and i need my meds so that i can even go to work to EARN my paycheck. should i sell feet pics or strip or whAT

[smokefalls]

The chance to get right a life / implies a different kind of intelligence.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, "AI Duplex" from Negative Money

[smokefalls]

Time is expensive to the mind and brain, / those offending engines crunching / signals into selfhood.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, "Companion Money" from Negative Money

[smokefalls]

To the man who said I was too much hyperbola—you were right.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, "My Past Has Value" from Negative Money

[sweatermuppet]

from how narrow my escapes by lillian-yvonne bertram, published in negative money

[Text ID: No one knew where to look for me but who was ever looking. /End ID]

[smokefalls]

Title: Negative Money Author: Lillian-Yvonne Bertram Publication Year: 2023 Publisher: Soft Skull Press Genre: poetry, queer lit

This was a tough collection to read. by which, I mean that it was dense. Perhaps as one could guess from the title of the collection, money is a central theme, and Bertram thinks broadly of what money means: to pay for something and to owe someone (or be owed), its ties to capitalism, and more. Other themes appear throughout this collection, such as the role of the body in relationship to gender, race, etc., as well as technology.

Bertram experiments a lot with form, and I actually really enjoyed it most in their "World Map" poems, which were done in collaboration with the graphic designer, Yaya (Thirada) Chanawichote. Another form of experimenting—and a really fascinating one, at that—is Bertram's use of AI in some poems. It definitely raises questions about what our relationship is with technology, and I'd be curious to know what more Bertram has done with this.

Again, this was a challenging collection, but a really thought-provoking one. I'm going to have to revisit it.

Content Warning: racism, death, police brutality mentions

[smokefalls]

I have visions of honey in my eyes.

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, "The woman says 'do not eclipse my pain with your own'" from Negative Money