The speaker is situating herself and others among herself and everything else,
(15)
that-- the
so-
cial world
--them-- as
in it
on ground that's constantly changing, not only because it's under scrutiny (perhaps in spite of it)--
(34)
myself
under
an
oppression
and
the bird
that-- lit on me
briefly
seeming
to have picked up
on that
in short short lines that feel breathy rather than frantic or choppy. Constant play with line break and language, chopping words into bits to emphasize different possible meanings depending on where they're situated in lines, lots of pronominal play, esp. with "their"-- standing in for "there" and "they're" and thereby stressing the inherent relationship between the three. (Sometimes also at odds with "my" or "our," also underscoring politics of relationships, place, and possession.)
Written in prose and verse; often on the page as sets of 2 stanzas, a little like diptychs-- but not uniquely so (also sometimes in threes, single stanzas, or a mix of prose and verse stanzas).
Not totally sure I understand what she means by the "inverse"-- seems to appear sometimes not only as "inverse" but also as "introversions" and "negatives"-- I think "opposite" is too reductive? see here:
(116)
the man-- that had
really happened-- starving lying
in garbage-- that is on
my part-- or on one's part-- and
not done away with in
that way
my-- it would have to be-- being
introverted-- having nothing to do--
as that-- situation of the man
lying there-- not producing
that
when-- the state of introverted has
got to be-- in myself-- as a
negative event-- so that man
lying there-- though not producing
it
and on a related note, interested in mapping relationships (spatial and existential) but also turning on the idea of a "senseless point" in these relationships...
(102-3)
and-- a senseless
relation of the
public figure-- to his
dying from age-- having that
in the present-- as him to us
as is my
relationship to the mugger-- a
boy-- coming up behind
us-- grabbing the other woman's
purse-- in his running into the park
the boy-- who'd
been the mugger-- and had run
off into the park-- with the other
woman's purse at the time-- and that
relation to him
as being the
senseless point-- though without
knowing the boy-- who was the mugger-- after
that-- or of course then
either-- but that as not being it
(again, I'm not sure what to make of this idea-- is this related to the (seemingly?) arbitrary nature of many of the affecting factors that make situations, things, people, scenarios? curious to your thoughts, Cathy.)
Politics of space and relationships runs through entire text, most overtly maybe in bum series, but I wanted to look at an excerpt in hoofer:
learning-- it seems
silly-- to accept the authority
--or want it-- of some situation
of needed-- and sought after
instruction-- as destroying
not of the hurt-- back-- in my
falling--which had not be done
in that way-- but
of fragile flesh-- and not
in a situation of authority
when it is performance-- not of
our culture-- the flesh being fragile
--and not hurt-- in the women being licked
between their legs-- by the men, but who're
customers-- or who're not that-- but aren't
socially important-- are ordinary
(love the play, btw, with "who're") I'm not sure what's meant by "fragile" except that it's later related to the life of a bum-- so it seems to be the point on which the text is turned to relate one instance of fragility and relational politics to another separate, different, but somehow related instance? (this reminds me of Abigail Child's Mirror World)
and a little poem, after Leslie Scalapino, R.I.P.
best-- everyone
wants
--what's--to feel
chosen
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