Sometimes a ringtone is just a ringtone, but not very often. Mostly they say things like "hope you got away from yourself safe," or "reformat a thief into a reverted serf," or "felt more real watching it onscreen." This is not a technological book, it's about people, so it's techno-illogical-- it's about hiding & thieving & occasionally, love. sirois has written here a stunning documentary attempt at re-lyricizing our stupid alienations. He succeeds, we don't. Ahoy there Group Gropers, press send.

— Rod Smith


justin sirois is the gentle herald of the now. Where the ear is trained to sibilance and crash, here the loop reloops an antidote to noise, a synesthetic love affair. Suddenly, the message transmitting from the screens of the handheld everyday and the artifacts of commerce is one of generosity, a restorative beat. The now can seem like a condition where only the most austere and grating seer can survive, yet here the gentle, generous agent thrives as "Pirate" beguiles. It is the juncture of technophile and worldview, the imperative sum of a man-bag, mixtape and stolen kitten. No time capsule you crack will be more entrancing.

— Heather Fuller


Cannibalism, pirates, zombies, ringtones, corporations, kittens, pea coats: Secondary Sound is about cycling and recycling. Like the journal of a pirate marooned on a deserted isle, this book tracks the sifting of 21st century culture for anything usable, something sustainable, something that won't devolve into something toxic. There's an equally deep anxiety about the desire for those things – what if Pirate does create the ringtone to silence all other ringtones? What if stealing from the polycephalic mega-corporations is just corporate training boot camp? Cannibalism has an ethics; all heads come from heads; we're just looking for a little harmony.

— Ken Rumble

 

 

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justin sirois is founder and codirector of narrow house, an experimental writing publishing collective. His work has appeared in The Shattered Wig Review, Link, The DC Poetry Anthology, and Poets Against the War – he received Maryland State Art Council grants for poetry in 2003 and 2007 and lives in Baltimore, Maryland.