Surface

“Surface is a diaphanous ode, a palimpsest on a Rorschach test, a central operating crystal. Clever and ambiguous, these poems would kick a lady in the rear — but only in extreme anger. Sometimes we are close, so close, to hear what’s said, sotto voce, between Treadwell and Hranilovich; sometimes Surface opens up a mute landscape. Surrender for a time to blithe naiveté, then give way to knowledge. Pierrot-like, try for a point of balance on this ever-shifting plane; or, as Arnold Schoenberg said, ‘If they were musical, not a single one would give a damn about the words. Instead, they would go away whistling the tunes.'"