Empties Out...

My initial reactions to All Around What Empties Out triggered in my mind the works of both Yamanaka and Cha… Yamanaka for it’s violence and sexuality (as Cliff mentioned in response to Bijun’s entry) …and Cha, probably because they’re both non-native speakers who come from regions in the world directly affected by genocide/torture/war, thus both are transitory, marginal writers whose ideas/imagery/emotions transcend cultural divides… And I agree with what Bijun mentioned in her early blog about Dinh having a keen sense of the human body…so true! These poems affect me the way Yamanaka’s poem did (the one about razors…Cliff, help me out here)—that is, reading these poems were like experiencing first hand. I think Keith summed it up more eloquently when he wrote about “being allowed inside the mind of the poet;” I’d like to add on to that statement by saying that as a reader, not only can I “glimpse the chaos and confusion” but I could also “feel” those sensations…. I like it when poetry makes me react in a certain way…I think that’s when it’s an effective poem. For instance, in the first section, Drunkard Boxing, were poems that made me absolutely cringe and voice noises of disgust (to the curiosity of my housemates, whom I then subjected Dinh’s poetry to). They thought some of the poems were pretty intense (and strange) as well. After our lovely, and non-religious Easter dinner, I passed around Dinh’s book and we took turns reading random selections then pondered on the imagery and the disconnection between stanzas. For a while, I couldn’t get past “Needle” because it was just so… painful/sharp?….and even though I don’t have a penis, the line,“a thrust up the urethra will create a host of childhood emotions,” really made me cringe. It was almost like it was gross but appealing at the same time. Beautiful grossness? I know there’s a fancier term out there for it…. catharsis, perhaps? I don’t understand this sensation, but that’s how I feel towards most of the book. Okay, I’ll stop..for now.
Looking forward to our class…

julia