I think titles are important, for books and for individual pieces. Titles such as “untitled”, “Poem”, “*” or “#3906026” make me growl. The title is the first thing you see, and is an indication of what will come, but so often the title seems to be an afterthought or a limp appendage to a trendy marketing strategy.
Many years ago Father Luke gave himself his own title. Now, as a fifty year old web-forum rat, he still insists on it. Even his girlfriend calls him Father Luke. Even his mother! He becomes angry with people who won’t call him Father, as if it never occurred to him that someone might have their own father, or that many people hold “Father” to be only for their priest. When people hesitate to use his pretentious nickname, he dismisses them as “cunts”.
F. Luke was on the Zygote in My Coffee (great title) forum the other day. He was hyping a new book, DOWN THIS CROOKED ROAD, POEMS FROM THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED. His work was featured in the book, but this was not his motivation for hyping it. No, sir! F. Luke hates fame, it goes against his vows. Fuck that bitch Fame in the ass! He only mentioned the book because his friends were also featured in it.
I followed F. Luke’s links for his new book and ended up at William Taylor Jr.’s site. Taylor was an editor of the book and says he “handpicked” each poem. “Handpicked?” Like cotton? Can you say “moronic blurbing”? Do other presses pick their poems using a machine? I don’t know who is responsible for the book title. A collaboration must have been necessary to come up with such a homogenized brick of dung. One cliché wasn’t sufficient, so they added another as a subtitle. “Road” appears twice. What’s that, alliteration?
Taylor’s previous book of poetry is titled “The Hunger Season”, another derivative pearl. Hamsun’s “Hunger” and Rimbaud’s “A Season in Hell” have been subtly married. Clever!
Some of the other poets in “Crooked Road” include Christopher Cunningham, Hosho McCreesh and Taylor himself. Taylor “handpicked” some of his own poems. I have no doubt this book will be praised to absurdity on Bukowski.net forum, where they also sell the Bukowski bobble-heads, but luckily I won’t be able to see it because I have been permanently banned.
Mather Schneider is the author of Drought Resistant Strain (Interior Noise Press, 2009).
