Pretend I Don't Exist by Morgan Bell

Pretend I Don't Exist Reviews

• 
  Magdalena

  Anyone who has read Morgan Bell’s first poetry collection, Idiomatic for the People, will not be surprised by how innovative her new poetry book Pretend I Don’t Exist is. The book was written as a poetic response to the nonfiction book Wild Koalas of Port Stevens edited by Christina Gregory and uses a range of diverse linguistic techniques inspired by a deep and whimsical anthropomorphism. The immediate impact of Pretend I Don’t Exist is visual, almost instantly funny as words move about in Koala-like ways. This is augmented by the varied rhythms of the words, which slur, drip, become staccato, slide, halt, slip into silence and then into a machine-gun patter that calls to mind rap and jazz. The work calls to mind a wide range of styles from Joycean stream-of-consciousness to the sonic poetry of Jayne Cortez (I’m particularly thinking of “She Got He Got”) and includes paraphrases from William Faulkner and Cardi B as well as actual citations from wild koalas as mentioned in Wild Koalas of Port Stevens or taken from volunteers and carers who work in the Koala hospital. The result is both irreverently funny and deeply empathetic. Of course it is impossible for humans to know what a koala thinks and feels but in spite of the whimsy, the book feels true, not overtly humanizing the koalas but allowing their inner monologues to remain a little bit wild and chaotic. Read the full review at Compulsive Reader:
  http://www.compulsivereader.com/2022/...
• 
  Joanna Atherfold

  Recently I saw a photo of a koala in full flight, something I'd not seen before and somehow couldn't image being a possibility until I did. This thought-provoking collection of poems offers a similar, visceral reaction. Morgan's imaginative response to Port Stephens' koala population is exquisite in its ability to perform tantalising poetic manoeuvres. You can almost hear her subjects say, 'Don't underestimate me.' The book is a delight to read and re-read. Beyond its unique creative contribution, the title is a powerful and disturbingly insightful statement attributed to this now-endangered species.
• 
  Dael Allison

  Morgan Bell takes on the subject of the Australian marsupial koala in crisis in this succinct collection of visual poetry.
  
  The ambiguous cover of Pretend I Don’t Exist offers a clue to how to read the poems. At first glance the image could be of folded hills, rucks in a coarse grey blanket, even acrylic fur. Exploration reveals a curious slot in the top left corner. A mouth, or another orifice? Think it through to the closed eye of koala. Alive, dead, a landscape of hurt? This visual play prefaces Bell’s use of puzzle, and her technical skills with kerning and layout, to subvert expectation. Attention to detail and lateral thinking are often required to work the poems out. Reading slows to koala pace,encouraging reflection. Let the poet direct you and you will understand her meaning.
  
  The poem Peep-bo and Hump's Infinite Playlist, for instance, is an interaction between the visual—lines that suggest speed humps on a road in koala habitat—and how alert a driver should be in such an environment. Lines read bottom-up to convey the languid climb of a koala up a tree while others suggest a fast top-to-bottom scurry down a trunk. In other poems Bell uses the devices of repetition, fading, excision and symbolic shapes to explore threats like disease and predators, balancing injury and death with recovery and release.
  
  There is abundant word play in this collection, and each poem spins off a book title.
  Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury echoes in The Fur and the Fury, a poignant stream of consciousness on how the colonial practice of killing koalas for their fur almost led to their extinction. Other familiar riffs include Full Metal Jacket’s transition to Full Metal Scent Glands, We need to talk about Morton instead of Kevin, and The Long Dark Roadside of the Soul
  
  Pretend I Don’t Exist is Morgan Bell’s response to photographic portraits and anecdotes in the e-book Wild Koalas of Port Stephens, written by Christina Gregory. There is affirmation as well as mourning in the collection, which begins with a roll-call of the names of the animals brought for treatment at the Koala Hospital: the dead, the recovering, and the survivors. This is the poetry of protest. A call to care about what happens to our koala populations, to act to halt their decline and possible extinction. With her exceptionally clever manipulation of word-patterns and placement on the page, Bell directs the reader to a deeper understanding of the threat koalas face.