Ochester

This is my first time reading Ed Ochester, and I must say that I enjoyed it. The thing which caught my attention was the conversational tone of his work. He seems to invite the reader in to the poem. Along with the conversational tone of these poems, I also enjoyed the narrative aspect of his work. Every poem was like a story that I was being told, not one I was reading. The poem Leechburgh, PA I think illustrates this unique blend of Ochester's conversational tone and narrative style.

One could almost be happy here.
the corner drugstore, Steinburg's,
like the fifties in Brooklyn
with a window full of surgical
appliances and pantyhose,
and in front on Friday night
a group of hoods
talking about getting laid maybe
but obviously not doing it,
their big dumb dicks
wrapped away like tubular chimes
on the symphony off-night,
like exclamation points
looking for something to happen
on Friday night, at Steinburg's
in Leechburgh, Pennsylvania. (61)

This poem also illustrates the kind of humor Ochester utilizes in his poetry. It is a far cry of Sexton's dark, wry humor that made you want to laugh and cringe at the same time. It is more of the kind of humor that simply makes you want to laugh, like in the poem Monroeville, PA when someone on the street yells hey asshole and everyone turns around.

I also liked that for the majority of the poems I did not have to put a lot of thought into the poem. This is not to say I thought the poems were easy or basic, but that I did not need to spend a lot of time trying to get into the poem. Instead it felt like my grandfather was telling me a story. I really admire poetry that is accessible and easy to get into. After reading myth poems for a couple of weeks now, this is a nice change of pace.

The topics of Ochester's poems also struck me. It was amazing to see the wide range of topics he writes on, everything from social commentary, to his personal life. I loved how in his poems about society and culture, he was able to get his point across with subtlety. It feels like whenever I read a social commentary poem it bashes me over the head with things like pop culture, or how fat Americans are, or one of the many other obvious problems everyone talks about. In Ochester's work however he is able to get that point across with enough subtlety so it did not feel like he was preaching to me about the trappings of our modern society.

After reading Ochester's work, I am excited to hear him read, and even more excited at the opportunity to pick his brain on Tuesday.