Rose: Don't be silly, you're not dense at all; in fact you're very perceptive for someone who went to night school. I'm actually quite pleased you found this poem frustrating, arrhythmic, and, to use your delightfully candid phrase, "utterly without payoff." You have perfectly summed up my intent here: to convey what it's like to be a grad student hopped up on No-Doze by writing a poem that no one wants to read. I want this to be confusing, jarring, and generally unpleasant. I want the reader to scratch her head and say to herself, "Why did I just spend five minutes of my life reading this?" Let the blue-haired old ladies write pleasant, treacly, melodic lullabies that package life's uncertainties in tidy little boxes topped with bows. I'm trying to do something more with my poetry than provide an escape route from reality. 99% of real life is confusing, jarring, and generally unpleasant. If, as you read my poem, you felt as if you were waiting in a very long line at the bank, while suffering from schizophrenia, nausea, and neuralgia, then I have, if I may humbly say so, succeeded.
[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited July 17, 2006).]
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