Circulation Flowers

I got in a terrific book the other day -- Circulation Flowers by Chuck Stebelton, winner of the 2004 Jack Spicer award. Now aside from the weirdness of there actually being a "Jack Spicer" award out there, this book is really interesting, I think. The poems kind of hover there. There's an introduction by the judge, a guy named Chris Stroffolino, and he gets to say things like:

Sometimes I think the lyric poem is a waste of time, of breath, of paper, of space. Is this because I've internalized what others have said about me? "Yeah, sure, you can seduce me with your 'brain is wider than the sky' bumperstickers or whirlpools, but how am I going to survive?" The poet doesn't say.

and

Amid all the poems and books that know how to act, or act as if they know, there are still a few that ... can only exceed aesthetic self-containment precisely because they are ambitious enough to acknowledge their failure.

and even

In a way every book is about trees (except for e-books, which are about oil)

What interesting things to think about in the face of poetic progress. Circulation Flowers certainly fills the pondering gaps opened up by such things, and much more too. Highly recommended, for sure.