I guess it's all about implication. Or the consequence of saying one thing leads to the need to say another thing. The new poems Mathias has in the Winter 2009 issue of the Laurel Review have this movement that I recognize, and I admire. What is this movement? It's hard to describe without sounding as though I'm just explaining the way any poem works. The poems layer lineation and the information that can be conveyed in a sentence. Yes, yes, it seems like all poems work this way.
But Mathias' poems pull the distance between sentences a little further apart. For instance, "You giving in // is a kind of willed amnesia, / the color of a rabbit's under-fur. // To speak of a word like bait." The movement I'm talking about is this image of a "rabbit's under-fur" leading to "a word like bait." It fits. But why? Because you would think that a rabbit is bait? I think that's part of it. Because the under-fur would be even more vulnerable? Because a "willed amnesia" has implications that might lead you to speak of bait? Because that could lead you to an impression that feels like the color of under-fur? The questions are more voluminous than the poem. But they manage to remain within certain bounds that make me feel that they are all relevant. And of interest. Or maybe more than interest, they keep me involved with the poem.
It leads me to say these poems aren't nearly as spare as they look on the page. They cover a lot of ground. A LOT!
Related Links:
The Laurel Review
Louise Mathias
Lark Apprentice
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