Beach Sloth

Northwest Represent by Andrea Coates

                Andrea Coates is a blogger’s blogger. I like her use of constant citations in her posts. When she writes a post it is truly all-encompassing. No stone is left unturned. She covers alt lit extensively. To improve alt lit diversity she uses deliberate re-spellings to further emphasize you are diving deep into the mind of true-blue hardcore Canadian. Why do Canadians even make up so much of alt lit? I may never know. 

                ‘Northwest Represent’ is Andrea busting out on a whole other level. She does YouTube readings, book-burnings, tribal chants, and other extremely alt things. An introduction brings us into Andrea’s world. What is there? Just some gas station wine/beer and smoke-able substances are available. Poetry brings with a personal admission: she knows she scares people. I laugh at her secrets. I think I am more secret than Andrea. However I do feel that Andrea makes ‘big ripples’ in the alt lit scene. Wonder if her Glory will be handed to her on a golden plate. Feel you usually must ‘fight to the death’ for relevancy. 

                Things are conducted in abandoned lots. Extraordinary, life-changing things happen in these lots. Andrea loves her mother. They work to build on abandoned lots. I think Andrea’s parents are farmers, artists, or real estate tycoons. Any of those things are relevant. Wonder why so many shipping crates are hanging around British Columbia. 

                I like the Glass House. Are our value systems influenced by previous loves? Does each person we meet rub off on us morality-wise? Think most of what our values are we learned as children. It gets harder to instill any sort of moral-structure on aging people. Saving face is an important thing to do while we have a face. Anarchists wait on balconies. Suburbs are anarchist breeding grounds. Porn films could be better. All they really need is some better acting. 

                Happy Andrea is not pure evil. I figured that from her attention to alt lit. Stephen Harper is not Andrea’s favorite Canadian Prime minister. Think Stephen Harper is unchill. Prisons are a problem all across the world. Wish people could be free. Wish buildings did not re-enforce behavior like so much concrete. Hope that day comes someday soon. She writes about a good man. This is a man of the Pacific Coast. Someday I want to meet these wonderful Pacific coast people. 

                ‘Hip Gathering’ is a call to arms. Andrea writes about the state of the world. It’s true. I like how she combines multiple formats in here, from poetry to straight-up chants. That’s why I like Andrea’s work. She is not afraid to mention politics in her work. We need to focus on where all of our stuff comes from. I personally avoid all these things. Happy I am a sloth and not a fitness freak.

                Mad visions are insane. So many people are here. All of them appear doomed. Do any of them realize what they are truly doing? Or is it a sheer madness. She likes Vancouver temporarily. Reality is the greatest MEME of all. MEMEs come from IRL. Though at some point internet culture may be completely self-sustaining, like a world outside of our own world. Feel Andrea might make a good internet priestess. Who am I to judge? 

                Fairies defend the forest. They are the true guardians of nature. They are accomplished artists as well. She walks on the side of the highway. Highways are the rivers of North America. Wish North America had real rivers. Real rivers are pointless now except for the occasional cargo and fly fisherman. Goth fantasies are great. I was never Goth enough for the Goths. Apparently they have strict dress codes. Feel Greyhound buses need more Goths on them. Greyhound buses are the darkest buses. 

                How much are you hers in her mind? Can a mind simply claim other minds? Isn’t that the purpose of an online persona? I thought it was. Rabbit holes are great to fall down if you’re a person. For the rabbits that’s simply a place to live. Andrea forms her work into the poem. The poem becomes a tree. It can help you take shade from the harsh light. Glad there is an afterthought about Vice Magazine. I like the fact that Andrea admits her thoughts on the publication have changed. Feel that trees are terrific and they form the pattern for this piece as well. Andrea plants trees in the forests of Canada. 

                She passes a house filled with confused potted plant people. They absorb. Canada is her true love. I like the fact people appear to engage in politics. At least that happens in her world. Of course she ends it with love. For her poems, for all their politics and agitations, are positive. Andrea wants to use literature to bring about if not change, then the mere acknowledgement of a potentially better society.