I Remember

Joe Brainard’s “I Remember” was, to say the least, interesting. What struck me most was the feeling that it was more a confession than a poem about his fragmented memories. It seemed as though he was focusing almost primarily on his memories as a young boy that had something to do with his sexual orientation and his becoming aware of his homosexuality. It was a finally nice to read something that actually was readable – beginning to end. My impression of this piece was like walking through a dark room that is some one’s life and intermittently taking flash pictures – capturing only instances that remain imprinted in your eye for a few moments after the flash. I really enjoyed it.

Sheila Murphy’s “Letters to Unfinished J.” was a hard read. There had to be some kind of message or method used but I just could not decipher it. My best guess as to what she was trying to accomplish was to work with word sounds and rhythms – I’m pretty sure, although sometimes there seemed to be some meaning from one sentence to the next, there wasn't much of an attempt to create a meaningful monologue. “City afternoon’s reason for being.” (?) I’m not sure if I’m right or wrong and it’s frustrating to try to close read poetry and not be able to come up with anything…it is what it is I guess.