Beverly Dahlen makes me think of Gertrude Stein (also, for obvious reason, Babe Dahlen (baseball reference, you could look it up)). in the way that facts are presented, unornamented I think I want to say. (oh sorry, as I think on it, that's Babe Dahlgren but I guess you can still get what chimes for me). there's a way that both don't commit to their statements. your average dairy-fed Republican commits to a worldview that is completed with every statement. I'm afraid your liberal stir-fried Democrat does the same thing. taking a position of position. who needs these fucking conventions, frankly. both BD and GS seem to allow an unsettlement to occur. with BD, it's memory within which she writes, at least in A Reading. and it is 'her' memory, but it isn't just that. it's a familiarity, even if I cannot say why I connect. it's an agreeable indeterminate power, which is inclusive and generous. not in a soppy way, but resepctful. I know my writing is not like that of either Dahlen or Stein, it's just Bramhall, but if I aim at all, it is towards that inclusion.