I am starting to read this 183 page book of poems. The title of the first poem. ‘THANK YOU FOR SAYING / YOU’RE WELCOME’ is presumably an allusion to these poetics, especially here
(though I have not read the link), as well as one assumes occupy, ‘utopia’, perhaps Bernstein himself, who hovers above or below all the writing here, usually to express remorse and perhaps incoherence (in this respect, I think the collections seems as good as early Language): I find myself wanting to make notes as I go (in this respect, it seems comparable to the Book of Disquiet – translated into English), and Berntstein is not – I think – showing off.
I expected to leave a short note on allusion, but the love and hate dynamic here is in fact more interesting to me than that; reading this I think that Bernstein’s hatred (love) of speech – and how it echoes within the collection – is reversed (do you promise?) by his hatred (love) of content, especially his own.
Here is a short poem dedicated to two Burmese poets he combines masterfully, even-though it may be musically distorted (so not a meglomaniac).
PASSING
p58
after Tin Moe and ko ko thett
stogie smoked
sun set
take me home