11/9

I really like what I'm seeing about Jackson Macklow so far. First of all, in his "Poetry and Pleasure" bit - and I have to point this out because I'm kind of a huge feminist, but - when using general statements, Macklow occasionally says things like "herself," or "her" in reference to a poet, instead of always assuming that the artist and reader both are male. He did this a few times and it pleased me greatly.

Secondly, I think his methods are extremely interesting. Unlike the other modernist movements, Macklow is really methodical in the way he constructed his poetry; I really like the way he decided to take other works apart, because it's not just... toying with people's notions of poetry, or sounds or something like the other poets. These approaches are more like visual poetry, like "A Humument." I'm a really big fan of visual poetry; I think it's so cool to kind of, recycle words, I guess; how you can just layer art on top of art, without actually infringing on anyone's creative rights.

I'll be honest, I didn't really understand how he got the "Sade Suit" stuff. But I do like what he did with, for example, the Mark Twain works. If I had written a book and someone did that to it, I would - quite frankly - feel honored. Sure, some of his stuff sounds a little silly, but at least he's very specific about what he wants everything to mean, and where the words come from. He definitely put a TON of thought into the way he did his work and that is something I respect immensely.