Splash it so / Fast.

This is Daniel Citro's poem, which appeared today in RealPoetik Magazine. I think Citro is doing something that poets too often put out of mind, which is, ahem, use the paper they write on for something other than lining up tidy little stanzas for the ark, which is, of course, easy. It's easy to swallow, it's easy to do. The moment that text is not flush left on the page, the stakes of the poem raise. It's a self-conscious action, an action that moves poetry towards the effort of visual art, it gestures, terrifyingly, towards time. I love Citro's patterning, the colors, the weave & cross-over, and what makes it even better is that as your eye moves through the visual web, you move into this vibrancy of images - " wild licked" "outside the shipwreck" "the carcass shines" - I'll let you explore the rest yourself. Take note, chickadees, take note.

Because we live in these odd days where everything moves so quickly, an hour after reading the poem on RealPoetik, I'd become Facebook friends with Citro, exchanged pleasantries, and asked him if there was any place I should point others to where his poems might appear. He said that no, there wasn't really, but that I should look at Montevidayo, because it was worth it. I have peeked, and agree, it is.

Onwards, chickadees. Keep yourselves warm.