'I have / a present for my neighbor: / a billion years of evolution'jeffrey bean was one of my teachers at cmu and an advisor, and this is his first book, 83 pages, published by david robert books in 2009
this book is maybe less ‘avant-garde’ than most books i mention on here, but the forms vary a lot and sometimes, i think, approach ‘experimental’
the content in dimished fifth is rural landscapes, music terminology and songs, relationships, ‘coming of age’ maybe
There! Forty stalks of dead corn
i was trying to get a feel for the tone/worldview being expressed in the poems
the poems feel like there is something very powerful, maybe, to be said, but i’m not sure exactly what. i’m not sure the speaker knows exactly, either
the feeling is maybe created by the juxtaposition of relatable things and using understatement, or something, to just leave the feeling
at its ‘best,’ i really like the feeling. i think it is similar to what i like about robert grenier, although grenier is even more understated
some of bean’s poems online, most of which are in the book:
“major third”
2 poems in poetry midwest (pg. 8 + 34)
5 poems at david robert books
3 poems at realpoetik
more on jeffrey bean and diminished fifth here
