Charles Jensen | Writer

Stephanie and I met twice since my last update, so here is your very first (and hopefully very last)

DOUBLE-HEADED LEGITIMATE DANGERS DEATHMATCH UPDATE

MATCH 1
Sabrina Orah Mark
on
Brian Teare

This was an odd match for us. We both liked most of Sabrina’s poems in the anthology, with the exception of the very first selection. We both agreed her use of lanaguage was interesting, her play with narrative inspired, and her turns of phrase compelling.

We also both liked Brian’s work. (!!) Stephanie had some reservations about the way in which the word “incest” was put right out there in the first anthologized poem, and I agreed that it was very blatant. We both liked that Brian has a poem called “Set from a Southern Gothic” and then a subsequent poem called “Detail from Set from a Southern Gothic,” which is really brilliant.

RESULTS:

Stephanie: Tie
Charlie: Tie

Official ruling: Sabrina Orah Mark and Brian Teare are evenly matched.

MATCH 2
Josh Bell
on
Mónica de la Torre

This past week was a total converse (inverse?) of the previous Deathmatch. I did not like the Josh Bell poems included in the anthology; I felt they played too much with language and didn’t take me anywhere with it; in fact, I purported that they evidenced a sort of “hip, detached irony” that I’m personally not a fan of. Stephanie felt similarly and probably liked his work just a little more than I did.

The reverse was true for Mónica. Stephanie wasn’t really into her, but I liked her first poem about the Mexican highways and sort of enjoyed her last poem about golfing, although Stephanie and I both felt it was off-putting when the speaker/writer commented on herself during the poem. I enjoyed the form work in the first poem, but the rest did leave me a bit cold.

RESULTS:

Stephanie: neither
Charlie: neither

Official ruling: Wow! Our first week where neither poet really captured us! Amazing!

Tune in next week when Katie Ford takes on Joshua Beckman. No child admitted without parental guardian!