Yesterday a poet named Matthew Guenette, young guy from out of town, read at Black Bear Bakery on a double bill with Rockwell Gray. Guenette is a social satirist -- currently a rare type of poet -- who knocks "things" like Katie Couric, and grocery stories so big "the aisles have storm drains." Audience laughed. I liked his work enough to buy his book Sudden Anthem (2007) from Dream Horse Press. He sold all the copies he brought.
My work also has a satirical streak and I decided in a flash to gallop out to my car, scoop my book Fierce Consent out of the trunk, run back and give it to him. I did, surprising him. I told him, "I'm doing this because we are alike. "
This was bold of me but I sensed that it was the right time and place. The day's horoscope ("there will be a small window of opportunity") and old maxims went through my head: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Would the book better off in my trunk? Hardly. I hope it'll make him laugh too.
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Catharine--
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your book, and loving it. I especially admire how you're handling class & gender in the Fierce Consent sequence, pushing back on those issues without the poems giving way to easy lessons...
You're book is apropos of the moment: I just finished Kass Fleisher's "Talking Out of School: Memoir of an Educated Woman". Your poems are tumultuous; they have a bite; they've sunk their teeth into me and it feels good...
--Matt
mcguenette@gmail.com
I wish I'd gone. My brother was in town and I couldn't pull it off. Sounds like I missed something good.
ReplyDeleteHe'll love Fierce Consent.