Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Poetic Voices: Sarah Blake and “Mr. West”


It may rank as one of the most unusual collections of poetry I’ve ever read. At first, I thought I was headed down the rabbit hole with Alice. Then the poems began to make a Wonderland kind of sense. And then the collection became something almost profound.

I never would have thought I would have used the word “profound” in describing 46 poems written about rapper Kanye West (who may be equally famous as the husband of Kim Kardashian as he is for rap music).

But that’s what poet Sarah Blake did. She wrote 46 poems as a kind of unauthorized biography of the singer. She wrote 46 poems that are also about her non-relationship with the singer. I suspect that’s why she entitled the collection Mr. West instead of something less formal.

Apparently, Mr. West and his people were not pleased. Perhaps they didn’t understand what she did. Or perhaps they did.


To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Photograph: Poet Sarah Blake.

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