Attachments to proper names, traditions, and entrenched thought formations are a perennial problem and, as LM Rivera shows, an addiction. Against Heidegger is a collection of poetic meditations on that pervasive, and possibly eternal, compulsion. Rivera builds his idiosyncratically lyric argumentation against simplistic, naive, sentimental, and played-out narratives, opting instead for improvised, collaged, bursting-at-the-seams, experimental formations through which he thinks a concept through to its (im)possible end. On this philosophical-poetic journey, Rivera positions the grand figure of Martin Heidegger as a whipping boy who receives the punishment for the sins of blind tradition. Through this collection, Rivera attempts to sever many troubling yet lasting customs—be they overt, hidden, canonical, esoteric, forbidden, or blatantly authoritarian.
 

A poetry collection that embraces the absurd and mysterious.
 
LM Rivera’s THE BOOK OF THE RED ABSURD is a poetic autobiography seen through the lens of literature, cinema, theory, history, mythology, and demonology. Presenting themselves in a sort of kinship with academic traditions, these poems move beyond scholarly preciousness to uncover something deeper, stranger, and more honest. This collection is a descent into an absurdist avant-garde performance, immersing the reader in the head of “red” experiences—those with sensations of extremity, despair, amusement, and derision. Here we find a heart laid bare through poetry that aims for the deadliest parts and dances wildly along the way.