In his first book since Before the Borderless: Dialogues with the Art of Cy Twombly, Dean Rader turns his attention to music. Notes is a collection of poems that listens to fugues, threnodies, and lullabies, as well as Miles Davis, The Velvet Underground, and Prince—beginning with the poem “Creation,” a response to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” which went viral after being featured in The New York Times.

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from “CREATION”

And on the eighth day, God
was totally done with the haters. Nothing
but complaints about acne, mosquitos,
unripe fruit. Where’s my house? Where are my

clothes? What’s with the serpents? And so
God did not bless the eighth day. And
she did not rest. And she did not
see that it was good, in part because

God’s boyfriend told her to clean
up the areas around the swamps and
make more mountains. His best work?
An asteroid. Whatever. Has he even seen

firmament? She nailed it. Beaches too.
And lord the animals. They never shut
up, but she doesn’t mind. They are hers.
And the color of the sky? She invented

that. Same with fire, but she’s saving
the good stuff for later: rain, earthquakes,
ice storms, lightning. Wait till they hear
thunder. Now, that’s godly. A reminder.

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Author: Dean Rader
Booklet, 36 pp, 7 x 5.25 in
Language: English
ISBN: 979-8-9991646-7-4
Released: December 1, 2025
Publisher: The Economy Press

$15

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