Notes
on "Autobiography On Red"
Is there
such a thing as poetry without words? If the answer is yes,
what does it look or sound like? Sure, I consider myself
a poet, a maker of verse, but once in a while, I feel the
need to leave words behind me. This is usually not a conscious
decision at all. It is much more the result of coincidences
that happen to emerge from the words I am quarreling with
at that very moment. "Autobiography on Red" is
such a "poetic accident."
I remember
that I was working on an autobiographical poem, but I didn't
seem able to put into words what I wanted to express. Staring
at a page filled with words, I suddenly was drawn to single
letters blurring together with others, forming various shapes.
I started filling out those shapes with my pen, undoing
my words. This was the first step.
I want
[readers] to find their way into a piece and let them create
their own understanding and vision. This is what I see as
the give and take between the writer and reader, a communication
with the poem in between.
