Some thoughts on Who's Who Vivid By Matt Hart

I found this book at a used bookstore in Ft. Wayne. What? How? I did thanks. Wait, back up, I read this book in December of 2009. According to goodreads, I didn't think highly of it (three star rating, some dissing on the untogetherness of the individual poems). Wait, back up, Matt Hart is a Ball State grad. Cool. Wait, fast forward, Matt Hart is coming to read at Ball State soon. All of the stuff online I've read recently tells me I was stupid in December of 2009.

I WAS I WAS.

This poembook, though still some down points where I don't care/get lost in the gaps, rides well, like a sick-wit-it rollercoaster.

Oh Matt Hart forgive me for I was young.

Here are some lines that I underlined in the book:
"One way to move a reader/ is to smash a bottle across the bridge/ of her nose. Another is through the careful use/of methodical, un-dramatized langauge." (p.14)

"I don't want to/destroy anything, not even a paperclip." (p. 17)

"Nowadays, everybody knows:/you've seen one drop of blood/you've seen an ocean." (p. 42)

"At once/I am a body and nobody" (p.67)

Now I am going to talk about my two or three favorite poems from this book:
"For The People Who Know Better, Let Me Say In My Defense"

A little different than most of the other poems, small little stanzas, this cool idea "I am," gets wild like "I am/of the testicles" and near "I am my own/dish rag", love the movement, awwwwww/ahhhhhhhhh, "I am awaiting/your reply" is the ending, and oh halt the poem, stop the poem, but still it drags on in my head, nice stuff really.

"Only A Transmitter"

Most of the time it seems that Hart's style, with the great language piling up, works better as a big blob of text, but hey, couplets here work, longer lines, helps the control, like the complex beginning couple+some: "Now that I've stopped shouting and started listening/to the radio, I'm understanding more and more the ways/to unfold myself..." I like that. It reminds me of growing up, past and present, and how sometimes I wanna be real loud, but no calm down Tyler.

A lot of animals come up many many times: rabbits, elephants, sharks, etc. I think that is cool. One time, I did a mini-interview with Hart and he said how it was interesting to him, better even, to use animals. Those are my words. I hope that was his idea. That's what I remember.

Matt Hart works at The Art Academy of Cincinnati and one time I looked up that school to see what the heck it was about. INTENSE ART PEOPLE THERE.

But really, this book is something to look at, to ponder, to read aloud. It rips through normal thought, like a brain is real and open.

Good Job Matt Hart. Sorry it took me almost a year to realize that.