as i search thru my archives for my meme let me point out a long poem by jonathan hayes: t(here). been meaning to write a bit about it for some time. i think it is hayes' most ambitious work to date. it is a mix of lyric and prose and collage that demands the reader to slow down and savor it as the narrative breaks and breaks down the reader to produce a bit of mesmerism. not that the piece is slow, hayes is nothing if not a muscular, blunt, poet. rather that the details accumulate as any good large text should do allowing the reader a little bit of magic. and that is what i guess i mean by mesmerism. good poems must allow for a bit of magic. i think. at least it is magic for me when i read a piece by a poet that i admire because i'm amazed how the writer managed to compose a set of words that can get me high. the effect is amazement. hayes' text needs to be read rather than have me write about. so read it. now.