John M Bennett

Sesos Extremos John M Bennett

Poetry. After having read John M. Bennett's poetry almost daily for 20 plus years, you would think I would have something very definite to say about it, but if there's one thing I've learned from reading it all these years, is that things can change in an instant. At first you think some of the pieces you've been reading are hardcore concrete poetry, poetry of and maybe to the physicality of words, of expression, the mechanicality or instrumentality of thought, but then that year, you happen to meet or watch a performance by John and you've got the book in your hand, and suddenly you realize that a certain percentage of the poems, or even of any given poem, might suddenly become a very succinct notation for performance, an agile, well oiled vocal performance where some strange fog is playing the 'john-horn' or its fog suit avatar. There are the collaborations, the works inspired by travel and friendships, poems in Spanish and French, and an engagement with the entireties of several avant-garde traditions and anti-traditions. There are hacks, riffings, homages, fever dreams, and obsessions galore! John M. Bennett is a national treasure and an international man of mystery. Is he a mild-mannered librarian or a fluxist master? Is he camping in a hole full of beans? Possibly. Whatever it is he's doing, he's doing it just fine and will probably continue to do it, no matter what we think.--from the Postscript by Lanny Quarles