f you're looking for a response to the VV reading then scroll down one, yo.
A view on how the world sees the individual, rather than an individual's view on the world, Disclosure defies being placed in any genre. Dana opens herself up to the reader using documents and papers about her, but doesn't address herself... herself. Unlike many authors, Dana does not seek to unburden herself, or tell a story, or create a narrative, etc. with her own words, but instead uses seemingly unrelated documents that only do one thing: they disclose (roll credits) information about the author.
Where I might have expected another few pages of poetry wherein the author presented their pain as prose, instead I was given a chapbook that stripped the author naked more than simple words. The book opens with an epigraph from Robin Blaser:
'you’re not allowed to sayWhich, I think, sums up the book perfectly in the final word: nakedness. Dana opens herself (drops her pants, if we want to take the epigraph to heart) to the reader, relying on empathy and shared experiences. It is my opinion that what the reader comes away with it going to be very different from person to person: I immediately focused on the documents presenting her earnings, while also stressing out about the medical diagnoses she was receiving, wondering if she could afford them at her wages. This says much more about me than the author. This isn't the same reaction I've heard from others, and I think the personal shaping (and really, the creation of) a narrative in this short book of images will disclose (roll credits) more about you the reader than it will about Dana.
"kiss my ass" to anyone unless
you mean it sincerely and drop
your pants quickly to show what
you know exactly of this nakedness'
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ReplyDeleteThat is a really inspiring way to look at it, as speaking more about the reader than the author herself. How we react to it really does reveal aspects of our character. Poetry is often viewed as so inward, so self-focused (obsessed even) that Dana's take was really refreshing. She is basically portraying the human experience, but not in her own terms. Like you say she is relying on empathy and shared experience, but doesn't all poetry to some extent? Anyways, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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