Dear April, I appreciated the
way the paragraphs were all about the same length. I especially liked how your sentences appeared to relate to one another. It was getting late, they said. Solemn, blunt flash of sun off the window of a Coors Light
Bob Perelman: Faith in the solidity of the word was fundamental to many modernists, whereas in a number of poems you find words arbitrary, comically quirky ("Relations" [13], "A Resemblance" [10], just to name two). But this attitude goes hand in hand with the most exacting word-choice. What do you make of this?
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I find the instabilities of language both troubling and attractive (a "bad romance" as Lady Gaga has it). It goes beyond the comically quirky, doesn't it? Obviously, words may sound alike because they come from one root, or they may sound alike and be unrelated. This raises an important question: what is more crucial than whether or not we can successfully attribute meaning to pattern? And patterns involve similarity and difference. In fact, this is where all sentience begins. In other words, "This looks a lot like the spot where I cached my nuts last fall."
