Indecision

I am currently rereading The Unraveling Strangeness by Bruce Weigl and wondering why he believes we are so alike and wondering if he has a wife, if he lost his author's bio while flapping his hands wildly at Mr. Death, an intangible character who seems to haunt most of his poems, and if his small moments of genius structure should follow him more closely in his other work.
I wonder if such a wondering sentence is too long for a poet's introduction.

The question is do I like Bruce Weigl's Unraveling Strangeness.

Sometimes.

For example:

Weigl's poem "My Pants" is gravely comical and beautiful and describes a few personal quirks of aging, the pleasures and pains of it. The structure is interesting with its use of white space and two line stanzas. The words are deceivingly simple. The flow is lolling and easy... until the sixth stanza when the subject unexpectedly changes from first person to second person, from recalling personal experience to asking the reader rhetorical questions. Perhaps Weigl is asking himself the question of "What are you going to do?" but there is no transition for warning for the subject change. For a mere two stanzas he turns the poem to enforce the idea that his personal experience is also happening to the reader, then leaves me wondering where I went in the poem because Weigl switches back to first person for the remainder of the poem.

The other problem I have with this particular poem is Weigl's comparison of a little boy to a bullet and a scream. He makes what I believe are awkward comparisons like this one throughout the book. Maybe a little boy being like a bullet or a scream hits home for someone else, and maybe I'm too dense or unimaginative, but it is my project, and I have to distinguish differing theories and practices on structure, language, subjects, etc. And considering that the rules of poetry are gray and fuzzy, a haze in the distance at best, taste and personal style play a major role. So I'm telling you what I like and what I don't like, which has little to do with whether Weigl is a good and bad poet.

Here are the things I dislike in most circumstances regarding poetry:

1. the use of "you," unless speaking to a character already mentioned. E.g.: You, Mother....

2. lack of personal information preceding the poetry. I like to know everything - places, people, events, social status - that the author mentions. It gives the poem a complete meaning. Gary Soto is very good at keeping the reader in-the-know, while Robley Wilson was terrible at it and Bruce Weigl is good at it sometimes.

3. reading about an experience that the author could never possibly experienced but writes as if he has.

Those are the only ones I've discovered so far. There are lots of things I like about poetry, and I'm tired.

Later I will write about my replacement poet for Robley Wilson, Robert Hershon.

Basalil

Joe, in a draft

If you were a zephyr
that blew in August

You’d be a breeze of banjos
and awkward harmonies,

carrying the scent of sun-warmed
strawberries

And the sheepish crying of a boy,
fresh with the fear of bees and honeysuckle flowers.

-With much love,
Basalil