I think one of the reasons I'm recommending Gouirand is that her poems were such a contrast to the other poems in the Fall 2008 issue of Forklift, OH. Don't get me wrong, the predominant style in the magazine is exciting. I like the kinetic imaginative rush many of these poets present. But often I don't feel there's much of a commitment to crafting a poem in these types of poems. They feel like a race to someplace, and the poet doesn't really care where that place is, so long as it's just fast, fast, fast!
But Gouirard's poems have a felt thoughtfulness to them. I'm especially fond of "Plurals," where formal elements and sincere sentiment and real idea come together for a poem that makes me invested in the speaker. "What is there to weep for:" the poem starts, which could easily be guilty of too much sentiment. In fact, I think I would be wary of most poems starting with a line like this, except in this case Gouirand punctuates with a colon instead of a question mark. It defuses, even mutes, the moment by pulling away from the question, and I think making this sentiment more a state of mind, which can be thought through.
But not thought through clinically, or without feeling. She still has moments where the poem touches on the speaker's feelings: "more is not more but still // it moves me: like the moving / through of mouth on mouth". Hopefully in this quote you can see the evident feeling that is occasion for the poem, while the careful language that pushes that feeling into further thought.
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