Placeholder text

Go to cart

Jungle Gyms for Monkey Minds

By Neil Kaufman

Jungle Gyms for Monkey Minds

By Neil Kaufman

0 - Default Title
Description
A monkey mind swings from thought to thought like a monkey swings from branch to branch. Often looked down upon in meditative practices, this frame of mind is characterized by caprice, distraction, impulsiveness. Along comes Jungle Gyms for Monkey Minds, Neil Kaufman's stunning debut collection of poetry. Jungle Gyms for Monkey Minds is a kind of utility poetry book that rewards monkey minds flipping between its pages in or out of order to spin alternate or deeper plot lines within the book's interconnected narratives (and your own), with no clear beginning or end, instead many interesting, particular peculiarities related to Kaufman's idiosyncrasies. For example, when you encounter in a poem a bird, an eye, a forest, a candle, you'll likely encounter the same thing again in a different way later in the book. Additional rereads only compound this effect, so the book never loses its luster but rewards and grows the reader's sense of connectivity within the text as well as perceptual instability - seeing the same or similar things from multiple, varied perspectives.
Rather than testify about a linear journey, Kaufman's book instead gives you the option of creating and reflecting on your own adventures while learning about his. Culled from 21 years of prolific writing since his first magazine publication in 2004, this long time to publish his debut collection allowed for the choicest selections of only his lushest, most reflective/refractive, deeply human poems. The result is a multivariate poetic experience, the weave of specific words feeling exceedingly intentional like a statistician playing with vocabulary to find significant features of the universe. Math can be found as often as winged creatures, math can be found as winged creatures, the symbols intermingling in a way that can only be described as organic. Nature is a prevalent theme, though oft presented in abnormal ways.
Questions of God and progress also show up, and Kaufman makes his best efforts to deconstruct many Judeo-Christian viewpoints that plagued him growing up in the 1990s, occasionally testifying about his experiences in cultures where God was supposed to be the center. He accomplishes this, reporting back to us how and where he looks for God along with his mixed results. That being said, his book actually comes off as a celebration of spirituality, not a rejection of it.
Readers familiar with mental health struggles will also identify with many terms and themes throughout the book, finding Kaufman to be a welcome companion on their path to recovery.
In addition, Kaufman has a tendency to play with binary opposites, taking day/night, fire/water, life/death, sky/ground... the list goes on... and making them his playthings, pushing the envelope or just challenging the way that a spectrum is defined by popular culture.
Lively, playful touches of humor pepper the book throughout, and the forms Kaufman invents are distinctly different from each other, providing a fresh feeling every time you turn a page.
Product details
Binding:
Paperback
Number of Pages:
66
Release Date:
2025-10-10
Publication Date:
2025-10-10
Publisher:
Grand River Poetry Press
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN10:
1968226044
ISBN13:
9781968226046
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
157 g
Height:
152 cm
Width:
229 cm
Thickness:
5 cm
Buy on Amazon
Currently sold out