reading V.IMP by Nada Gordon (Faux Press 2002). she used to post rarely on Subpoetics, but always something that made me jump. there's a potent density to her work. real concentrated, yet also breezy in an affordable housing New York poetry way. her series of poems tangling with 9/11 distracted me, as I got to thinking how I reacted then. I wrote quite a bit in those days, but tho I seemed to be around 'the subject' (and knew it was a subject), I found that I had to remain oblique. direct communique would for me have been a usage that I could not warrant. Nada managed a direct hit, and so did, for another instance, Ivan Argüelles, but I had to be careful. when my mother was dying (9 days in ICU) I told myself NOT to write a poem of her death. mere hours after her death, I was writing that poem. but it was the only one, and it had to happen. I wish I had better words with me, for I like Nada's strength in the bubbly blur, which is political, poetical, philosophical and radical in a fun yet straining way. strain on me, that is. I think more people should be writing about her work. I invite the eloquent ones out there to do so.