Rothko

Rothko the title long-poem of this slim volume is an attempt to crystallize 20 texts on a very elusive major abstract expressionist (a designation of which the artist himself derived scant satisfaction) into a dramatic monologue in a wholly new verse form 33 sections of 6 couplets of nearly identical length lines each section preceded by a brief haiku-like quotation from the 3 most seminal texts.<p> This ambitious deconstruction of both man and artist in the very act of his gashing forearms with a razor blade is of interest to the scholar as well as the general reader for it provides a fresh and compelling view into the psychology and motivations of one of our greatest Americans.<p>The other 4 long-poems in this volume provide another access to the general reader in particular insight that is into the psyche of the poet himself-Grove Street a paen to a quiet suburban setting; Mundtot an investigation of the mouth-death or curtailment-of-verbal-expression in our own contemporary culture an over-reliance on market in publishing circles as opposed to the more tangible political repression in the larger past particularly Nazi Germany; Beethoven's Teeth the dark hole of the poet's often wayward consciousness imagery courtesy of 20th Century's Francis Bacon; and NORMAN Jack Turner the concluding work a requiem for a dear friend dead of AIDS in 1996.<p>The 4 long-poems exist in their own right but also simply as an aside when juxtaposed to the power and originality of Rothko itself.