Poets and Poems: Bruce Beasley and "Prayershreds"

You read a poetry collection like Prayershreds by Bruce Beasley, and the first thing that strikes you is the language. Language should strike you in poetry, but in this case, you find yourself drowning in creativity and imagination. Throughout the entire collection, language appears to pour almost effortlessly like a fountain, and sometimes a flood. You almost think it’s stream of consciousness writing, and then you look closer. It’s anything but that, carefully considered and composed. 

One poem incorporates musical notes. One invents a language like and unlike English, and while it’s at it reinvents physical form. Another uses a photograph of a sculpture by the artist Bruce Beasley (they share the name; I can imagine the poet grinning mischievously off-stage). 

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