Operating Systems

Brooklyn Rail, JC Hallman: https: //brooklynrail.org/2019/07/books/Operating-Systems-by-Joe-Pan

"'I just discovered this form yesterday, ' Pan writes, earlier in the book, but it applies best to the sprawling formless form of this hulking, brilliant anthem, this 'Bohemian Rhapsody' of a poem. ["Ode to the MQ-9 Reaper"] goes on to become a way of addressing Pan's own younger self, a personified lost innocence, and the Reaper becomes a figure of national tragedy, a character really not so different from the tall hooded farmer for which it was named. While praising it as poetry, and Pan as a poet, I want to scream that "Ode to the MQ-9 Reaper" is not just a poem--it's a memoir and an essay and a white paper about black hearts and black death. It's a sermon, and a polemic, and a treatise, and an ars poetica, and if you think I'm overselling it, then just go and read it, and see for yourself. I dare you."

Heavy Feather Review, Eric Aldrich: https: //heavyfeatherreview.org/2019/07/09/pan/

"It's uncomfortable to struggle with ["Ode to the MQ-9 Reaper's"] ethical dilemmas. Pan reminds us we are complicit in the Reaper's exploits without shying away from the barriers to avoiding culpability....The collection's diversity is also a strength and most readers will find something to challenge or surprise them."