[Oops, not sure what happened but the post posted prior to arrival at an "end"]...Anyways I'm very pro Petrarch.  The JG piece reminds me some of H Mullen which I very much dig, and I also think R Silliman except I think that's not something other than a hazy thought--likely just a matter of seeing largish chunks of prosepoem.  I need to get back into The Alphabet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I like how the pieces are I guess one could say kaleidoscopic and also loosely narrative/faux diaristic.  Mostly, and this gets strayt back to HM, I love how the text majorly seems generated by puns and other play.  It's hard to believe it was written "with a hardon."  MM, or maybe it's got some of the semenic drive A Burgess says narrative needs--I might be making up the AB paraphrase; wow I feel like so much of my "knowledge" is that which I've made up rather than verified.

I like this--from Typo 4: JOHANNES GÖRANSSON

My only quip is the Petrarch digs--poor Petrarch, has he had any friendly words ever since Pound decided a smackdown was necessary?  I presumably exagerate, but only to express my very pro

Art-trash

On Chelsey Minnis and CAConrad

Joyelle McSweeney

I have only actually read the CM part of the review, and skimmed the second part, but I overall rather enjoy what I have actually read: so few reviews "close read" enough for my taste so it's nice to see it when it occurs.  I particularly dig JM's point that the punctuation of Minnis misses the mark: so punny/clever/fun/pleasing.

I Love Discursing With Women

I also notice I tend to fare better when Montevidayo is in its populated by women stages--the blog is multiauthor and of course the roster for the blogcommentbox has regulars but of course some regulars go on hiatuses)--and I don't know if this is solely a quirk of mine or if--as some of me suspects--smart women are inevitably gonna make for the best discursive atmosphere: I guess I'm working from the assumption that (and again this is from my own experience and that sample is too small for macro-conclusions) it seems (can seem and the word assumption seam?) women may be less likely to display an aura of dismissiveness--or at-least the Montevidayo women.  And this ain't to say I've never seen women dismiss at this site, but even the dismisiveness tends towards engagement.

Note: although I erased it, initially I posited this may link to overall trends in female socialization; and this does not make me comfortable as I lean towards thinking much female socialization is awful/damaging.

Note: I don't mean to imply I am pro conversations with women because of some general or innate docility: no-no-no, not-at-all!  It's precisely for the fact of multifoliate arguing that I often find my arguments--or conversations or discursive xchanges or whathaveyou--so delightful and impressive.  For those who want names, Danielle Pafunda and Ariel Greenburg and Kate Zambreno and Kate Durbin (apologies if I've botched spellings) come to mind.

Ugh, I need to wean myself off Montevidayo--the blog not the city.  I keep non meaning to do this and then keep on failing.  And this makes sense in many ways; although it's by leaps and bounds more stressful to participate in than, for example, The French Exit or Nothing To Say and Saying It, it's also full of lovely sparks and has been great for the poetry writing me: I could be wrong--influence can be difficult to pin down--but I believe that many poems of my past year would not have been written were it not for my Montevidayo exposure.  I assume this is why I continually fail to cut the cord: the cord stresses but also feeds much nutrition.

A Lovely Surprise

I searched me on the internet and found this amazingly kind response to some poems of mine (here's the link: 21stcenturypoetrybychris.blogspot.com);
Tuesday, March 16, 2010


What to do now?

My favorite artist in FENCE was Adam Strauss and I looked up his work. Unfortunately, FENCE is his second publishing and I could not find much about the author. I found this bio on Softblow.com: " Adam Strauss lives in las Vegas, Nevada. He has poems out

in the current Drunken Boat, as well as forthcoming in Fence. "


I also read a few of the poems that were on this web page and this was my favorite:

Lust


Blood thinks.

Streams sings.

Rubies' regal reddenings.



Logicians think.

Singers sing.

Painters paint ravishing reddenings.



Glasses clink in an act of relief.

A philosopher falls in love with a painter's way with paint.

Blood sauce more warming than sable regals.



Writing heightens sensation presently.

We shouldn't necessarily all be writing.

It is fun doing a bad job it’s good to be doing fun.



Running a sentence on extends its sense or I'm wrong.

It is a big deal but not now.

Something else is present I'll love it later.



I've long been doing in love so I’m interested in doing lust.

I want lust to wake up at dawn and place a rose on my chest.

I hope he smells like bacon and cinnamon singing country music. "


I believe that Strauss is homosexual and that many of his poems that I have read show this. However, I found it interesting in the above poem that the only illusion to this is the word "he" in the final line. It seems strange that he would put so little attention to it because in other poems such as one named " Gay" it seems so apparent.

Posted by Chris Hernandez at 6:52 PM 0 comments On the Fence about "Fence"

As I began reading "FENCE" I was perplexed by by the abstract and absurd nature of many of the poems. They seemed to be far above my comprehension level and seemed too unique to fit into many of the previous poetry categories I have read. However, as I began to slow down and study each poem I began to appreciate the writing more. I searched for flow between poems and was unable to find any. I wanted to find out if the editors had chosen poems that flowed together or portrayed some overall message. I definitely realized some social commentary, as seen in "OverPass" by Adam Strauss. Sometimes it is apparent, as seen in Strauss' work: "Because this/ Is Los Angeles---/ Home of the world's/ Most glamorous feminism." I was able to understand Strauss' work and many other writers such as Jose Perez Beduya or Kirstin  Hatch.
 
Chris, thank you so much for your response!