[words on HIDER ROSER by BEN MIROV]
*
Ben Mirov’s second full-length book of poetry
contains the words ‘snow’ ‘black’ ‘green’ & ‘wolves’ a lot
he has a preoccupation with dark snowy ‘settings’
he speaks often of ‘Ben Mirov’ (third person)
he has 5 or 6 poem titles w/ ‘Ben Mirov’ in them
the poems themselves usually speak in ‘I’ or ‘you’
the poems make me think Ben Mirov is ‘well-read’
he references other texts & other writers consistently
‘my mind is a calm cool / bowl of shaving cream’
this line reminds me that Ben Mirov is ‘really good’ at speaking of the ‘abstract’ / ‘metaphysical’
in tangible ways
a nice blend between very ‘composed’ & ‘delicate’
& allowing the imagination to push itself wildly
Ben Mirov’s ‘imagination’ seems ‘exceptional’
& although his material often explores similar material
he somehow accomplishes fresh energy throughout the whole book
in fact, I’ve read the book ~ 3 times already
Ben Mirov sent me this book for free
if you ever meet him you will realize that he’s very kind & dryly funny
& honest
like his poems perhaps
& I really enjoy his style of reading
he delivers his often dark // cosmic poems in a deadpan / borderline robotic tone of voice
the result is humorous
he takes me simultaneously into vivid imagination & an almost absurdist sense of humor
Ben Mirov’s ‘speakers’ often say things like
‘I have no idea what I’m doing’
but this ‘not knowing’ often leads to a certain type of ‘innocence’ or ‘Beginner’s Mind’
that views the world like this
‘I feel like I have never seen anything / and I am seeing things for the first time / and this is the first thing I have ever seen’
‘innocence’ may not be the right word
idk
the poems are concerned w/ ‘darkness’
‘nothingness’
‘Loneliness is something more / than nothingness’
they seem to be concerned w/ the spark
the birth of a moment arising from a fertile void
of language arising
he weaves scientific language & the ‘colloquial’
plainspoken
straightforward, brief
‘You will no longer feel like punching yourself in the face twice a day. You will not feel guilty about paying tons of money to attend grad school’
clipped
I love when he has a series of ‘end-stopped’ lines
& then suddenly a sentence enjambs for like 5 or 6 lines
these poems are philosophical & ‘hip’
his work seems to have the rare opportunity to appeal to the ‘academy’ & the ‘alternative culture(s)’
maybe not all his poems will appeal to one or the other
but they have a bluntness, sophistication, & postmodern sensibility // playfulness
that strikes an intriguing balance
here are some of my favorite moments:
‘The water is beautiful and she allows you / to put your arm around her. / Smell her ear, part of a star / that exploded when you were negative / 10, 000 years old’
‘you probably think you’re not alive at all / or that being alive is a button inside you’
‘When I think of our relationship / I think of a magician / with a dove in his pants / or a giraffe that must fall / six feet to be born’
‘I pet a moth as big as a baby’
‘Now open your eyes. / Not those eyes. / The eyes inside you’
‘When you have carried [the eyeball] far enough / give it to the next person you meet. / Or bury it in a pile of shards. / Or smash it on a rock’
![[words on HIDER ROSER by BEN MIROV]
*
Ben Mirov’s second full-length book of poetry
contains the words ‘snow’ ‘black’ ‘green’ & ‘wolves’ a lot
he has a preoccupation with dark snowy ‘settings’
he speaks often of ‘Ben Mirov’ (third person)
he has 5 or 6 poem titles w/ ‘Ben Mirov’ in them
the poems themselves usually speak in ‘I’ or ‘you’
the poems make me think Ben Mirov is ‘well-read’
he references other texts & other writers consistently
‘my mind is a calm cool / bowl of shaving cream’
this line reminds me that Ben Mirov is ‘really good’ at speaking of the ‘abstract’ / ‘metaphysical’
in tangible ways
a nice blend between very ‘composed’ & ‘delicate’
& allowing the imagination to push itself wildly
Ben Mirov’s ‘imagination’ seems ‘exceptional’
& although his material often explores similar material
he somehow accomplishes fresh energy throughout the whole book
in fact, I’ve read the book ~ 3 times already
Ben Mirov sent me this book for free
if you ever meet him you will realize that he’s very kind & dryly funny
& honest
like his poems perhaps
& I really enjoy his style of reading
he delivers his often dark // cosmic poems in a deadpan / borderline robotic tone of voice
the result is humorous
he takes me simultaneously into vivid imagination & an almost absurdist sense of humor
Ben Mirov’s ‘speakers’ often say things like
‘I have no idea what I’m doing’
but this ‘not knowing’ often leads to a certain type of ‘innocence’ or ‘Beginner’s Mind’
that views the world like this
‘I feel like I have never seen anything / and I am seeing things for the first time / and this is the first thing I have ever seen’
‘innocence’ may not be the right word
idk
the poems are concerned w/ ‘darkness’
‘nothingness’
‘Loneliness is something more / than nothingness’
they seem to be concerned w/ the spark
the birth of a moment arising from a fertile void
of language arising
he weaves scientific language & the ‘colloquial’
plainspoken
straightforward, brief
‘You will no longer feel like punching yourself in the face twice a day. You will not feel guilty about paying tons of money to attend grad school’
clipped
I love when he has a series of ‘end-stopped’ lines
& then suddenly a sentence enjambs for like 5 or 6 lines
these poems are philosophical & ‘hip’
his work seems to have the rare opportunity to appeal to the ‘academy’ & the ‘alternative culture(s)’
maybe not all his poems will appeal to one or the other
but they have a bluntness, sophistication, & postmodern sensibility // playfulness
that strikes an intriguing balance
here are some of my favorite moments:
‘The water is beautiful and she allows you / to put your arm around her. / Smell her ear, part of a star / that exploded when you were negative / 10, 000 years old’
‘you probably think you’re not alive at all / or that being alive is a button inside you’
‘When I think of our relationship / I think of a magician / with a dove in his pants / or a giraffe that must fall / six feet to be born’
‘I pet a moth as big as a baby’
‘Now open your eyes. / Not those eyes. / The eyes inside you’
‘When you have carried [the eyeball] far enough / give it to the next person you meet. / Or bury it in a pile of shards. / Or smash it on a rock’](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdjx5paLvt1r1vr5po1_500.png)
![[words on VORTEXTS by BEN MIROV]
*
I just reread ‘Vortexts’ for the fifth-ish time
Ben Mirov’s latest chapbook (2011)
he has a new full-length coming out (Hider Roser)
I met Ben at a reading on Ashbury Street last year
a chapbook release party in which this chapbook was included
(as well as Diana Salier’s)
one may use the word ‘robotic’ to describe Ben’s reading style
I loved it & have since seen him read a few times
(& have since seen him at other people’s readings)
his delivery, like his poems themselves, is a mixture between ‘absurd’ humor & deep human yearning
he released his full-length book Ghost Machine a few years ago
at the ‘aforementioned’ (damn I hate that word) chapbook release party (our first meeting)
I bought ‘Vortexts’ & Ghost Machine
I also interviewed him months back – check it out: http://cuttyspot.tumblr.com/post/12506760819/ben-mirov-interview-cutty-spots-first-writer
I let someone borrow Ghost Machine after reading it & have not since retrieved it
I personally enjoy ‘Vortexts’ more but feel like Ghost Machine gets more attention
I published my 2 favorite pieces from ‘Vortexts’ in my online lit magazine, GESTURE: http://thegorillapress.com/gesture_1_.swf
‘Vortexts’ read as more ‘mature’ & ‘controlled’ than Ghost Machine
these are not always ‘positive’ qualities, but here they are (to me)
in ‘Vortexts’ he works most often in ‘tercets’ (three line stanzas)
this works well for him & I think forces him to place more emphasis on the line & line breaks (yes line breaks can still be cool!)
his ‘turns of phrase’ & surprises in ‘logic’ (or ‘lack thereof’) please me very much
he often uses ~ ‘scientific’ language to explore notions of ‘the void’ (read his speaking about ‘the void’ & poetry here: http://wewhoareabouttodie.com/2012/04/02/what-do-we-mean-when-we-say-a-poem-is-a-machine-part-8-ben-mirov/)
he blends ‘heavy’ language w/ ‘light’ language
for example, ‘There are many disturbing facts / about the nature of reality. Michael Burkard / takes the L to Lorimer Street and transfers / to the G’
this bit reminds me of O’Hara or one of the New York Schoolers
in this chapbook, Ben is preoccupied w/ ‘gurneys’ & ‘purplish light’
I enjoy the first half of the book more than the first
primarily because of the ‘enjambments’ & longer ‘sentences’
Ben references other writers, like ‘Joseph Conrad’, ‘James Tate’, & ‘William Butler Yeats’
Ben seems ‘hip’ & ‘well-read’
& he says: ‘sometimes I feel like I’m not drawn to poetry at all. There are moments when I look at my life in an objective way, and it seems like I shouldn’t be writing poetry. To quote my friend Dan Magers, “I’m just some guy”. I spend a lot of my time fucking around. I over to indulge in video games and fantasy novels. I watch too much TV. But then somehow, I get lucky and happen to write a poem.’
ultimately I will probably read anything Ben Mirov ever puts out
here are my favorite moments from ‘Vortexts’
‘The stars appear / one at a time, completely naked’
‘I thought about Papa / who died half-naked with a mouthful / of mushroom soup’
‘On the subject of love / I have only a single observation— / if you love a grapefruit you cut it open / and eat its flesh’
‘Lake is such a beautiful word. / I’d like to die with it inside me’
‘All matter is just empty space revolving / around a pinhead of energy growing / more and more tired each moment’
‘I am trying to figure out the secret / of artificial intelligence— / how to make something get up and live / all by itself’
*
find Ben here: http://isaghost.blogspot.com/](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maczge45vj1r1vr5po1_1280.jpg)
