In some meditation practices, a "monkey mind" is a state of consciousness that swings from thought to thought like a monkey in a jungle swings from tree branch to tree branch. This frame of mind is characterized by caprice, distraction, impulsiveness. Long thought to thwart the human experience. Along comes Jungle Gyms for Monkey Minds, Neil Kaufman's stunning debut collection of poetry. Jungle Gyms for Monkey Minds is a book that rewards monkey minds navigating its pages in or out of order to more deeply evoke emotions and plot lines within the book's narratives (and the reader's own.) No clear beginning or end, instead many interesting, particular peculiarities related to Kaufman's idiosyncrasies. For example, when you encounter a poem with a bird, an eye, a forest, a candle, you'll likely encounter the same thing again in a different way elsewhere in the book. Additional rereads only compounds this effect, so the book never loses its luster but grows deeper with time.
Culled from 21 years of prolific writing since first being published in 2004, this long road to his debut collection allowed for the choicest selections of only his lushest, most stimulating, deeply human poems. The result is a diverse poetic experience. Math can be found as often as fantastical creatures, math can be found as fantastical creatures, left and right brained themes intermingling in a way that can only be described as organic. Ecopoetics weave throughout, oft presenting nature in abnormal ways.
Questions of God also show up, Kaufman reporting back to us how and where he looks for God along with his mixed results.
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.
