James Meetze

I was excited to encounter a book of poems centered thematically on San Diego, my hometown, but with this excitement I suppose I imagined poetry built on tight narrative, humor, irony, and strong images. All of those elements are here save the first one, so you have to work at these poems sometimes. I'm not saying it's language poetry, there is definitely intended meaning here. Lots of it.

I can see the exploration of contrast between living flowers and dead men, natural beauty and ugly materialism, an excess of sunlight and a lack of illumination. I recognize Meetze's San Diego, but I don't. A pervasive theme here is the comparison between the external landscape and the interior landscape of mind, maybe more specifically the writer's mind. I can recognize all these elements, but it might take another reading to really appreciate them. Hearing Meetze himself read them aloud will provide some context as well.… (lisätietoja)