Slow reading, but Poetry shouldn't be rush read

I finally finished Danez Smith's "[Insert] Boy" and was as impressed at the end as I was at the beginning.  Perhaps Neruda's "Book of Questions" wasn't the first, but in Smith's poem "Song of the Wreckage" he echoes Neruda with a series of questions.  The last three:

Who do the ants think has the best meat?

Please, will you show me something beautiful?

If I play dead, will I be acting my age?

While this Song near the end is one of the longest, if not the longest poem, in the book, I couldn't help stop and pause at these lines, especially the final one.  The entire collection deals with the gay black (african american) experience, and let me say, that his poems give an entire different light to the gay black versus gay white experience.  Aspects I could relate to, and others just moved me, and made me regret that we live in a society where such a loss of life is considered normal.  When this happened, I don't know, but too often the proof is in the newspapers, and it is an unpleasant truth, one that most Americans would pretend didn't exist.  While everyone is agreement that "Black Lives Matter," and most would argue the "ALL Lives Matter," what those people who insist on ALL are missing is that White Americans are much more "agreeable" to allowing a Black person die at the hands of the law or a vigilante than we are a White person, hence the emphasis that Black lives do matter, regardless of the indifference of Whites.  If it takes a protest to get notice, then by all means, get a protest going.  It is unfortunate that today's resurgence is just a repeat of history, and as a country we really haven't learned squat.

OMG! 1917? Really?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the OMG acronym was in 1917, in a letter to Winston Churchill of all things.  "Letters of Note" reproduces the letter.  It surprised me that it preceded the internet and texting by so many years.  Since I am still working in "IRL,' mention of modern acronyms and other abbreviated versions of words seems fine.  I am still impressed with the book, and read a brief section tonight, as well as a bit more of "[Insert] boy," but tonight is setting up the Christmas tree, before I procrastinate until after the holiday, thereby skipping the project altogether.

Of poetry, I finally finished Joe LeSueur's "Digressions," whose title I shorten because I am too lazy to type the whole thing (or should that be keyboard the whole thing?).  I enjoyed the look into Frank O'Hara's poetry, as well as the picture of New York at that time.  It took me forever to read because I was only reading it at work, and purposefully only in small bits, like a poem at a time.  This book did do one of my favorite things for a memoir to do, which is spike my interest in other authors active at the time, and now I am contemplating ordering the works of Joe Brainard.

Aside from the tree, which still needs ornaments, today has mostly been reading from Dreamspinner Press' Advent Calendar annual event (which my browser won't open so I can link it).  "Krampus Hates Christmas" and "Matthew's Present" have been my favorites so far, followed by "The Orpheum Miracle."

What a mess of genres and books.  Someday I may actually settle down again and focus on reading those things that are supposed to be good for me (read canon), but that was twenty years ago, and while I will mingle those books in, it will likely never be my main focus again.  There is too much out there, and too many things to sample and explore.

Edited to correct spelling of Joe Brainard's name.

Poetry, again.

I definitely would suggest Smith's "[Insert] Boy" though I do caution that just because I recommend it doesn't make it a pleasant read, rather it is more an insightful read, but one that for me, at least touches on aspects of my that I vaguely remember.  The section I just finished was that which dealt with his grandfather and the cancer that killed him, amongst other things.  It was powerful, perhaps because one of mine was similar, not in cause of death, but in how they lived their life.

On to something brighter, earlier today I also read a passage in "IRL" and the relationship the poet describes with his muse is truly something to read:

The influence of Muse
is not unlike being under
the influence, the way a poem
is spontaneously drunk
on Robert Graves.... (page 30)

Pico runs his lines into these incredible images, and these lines get to galloping along (almost galumphing, but not quite) stopping at unlikely places.

I am not finished with either book, but I am enjoying them, each for their own reasons, and there is probably a good chance I will have another poetry entry on my blog, though it isn't really all I read, just what has grabbed my attention lately.

Poems being read

Over at FB, I tossed out enough junk to show my disapproval of Trump, who I really think is PT Barnum reincarnated.

Anyway, two of the poetry books I am reading right now, "[Insert] Boy" and "IRL" by Danez Smith and Tommy Pico, respectively, are both pretty incredible.  Smith does an gut punching job of connecting the reader with his reality, while Pico, his book being one long form poem, tosses so much to you, some you recognize, some not, because hey, I didn't grow up on a reservation, nor do I know as many dead people Jim Carroll (and Pico).  I have finished neither book, as each has me wanting to take a break, just to process, but both promise to be interesting, and perhaps I will manage to update when I have finished them.