Mike Young—
“My religion is Poetry, not a religion of kindness and love but one of absolute permission. If poetry doesn’t strip me naked in front of my enemies then nothing will.” — CAConrad, in an amazing (duh, it’s CAConrad) and even downright rousing interview with Thom Donovan at The Academy of American Poets, excerpted from A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon, Conrad’s new book of (Soma)tic exercises out April 1st from Wave.
Very surprised this has not spurred more conversation. I am finding Conrad’s position to be one rarely seen in poetry. He is dealing with spirituality without the preconceived definitions attached. What scientists can quantum entanglement. Energy. There are dimensions beyond what popular society would rather believe, badly terms, “the supernatural”. Every term one could try to use, such as ghosts, has something else attached to it, but reading his interviews, checking out the (Soma) exercise at jubilat, it is clear he is working from a perspective either free of those connotations, or aware of those connotations, aware of their influence (as he struggled to find the right way to express his emotions and the energy associated with those emotions, until the energy of his brother advised — his hair), but consciously wading through them and proactively choosing. Poetry comes from the same space as these deep energies of the universe (all creation does yes, but it feels as if poetry is closer to it than others — same with music, I feel). The universe is quite the deep pool. It is one thing to know, yeah, the world is pretty deep man. And it is another to have experienced and be actively experiencing and communing with such energies on a daily basis. Quite different. It is refreshing and he is genuine.
How did I just hear of this guy? Amazing.
Standing in history by saying one’s perspective of what Rove/Cheney did is an excellent way to tattoo WAR CRIMINAL onto war criminals.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, YOU MADE MY DAY!!!!
Thank you for being awesome!