IS KNOT

IS KNOT is: Poems, many incorporating visual elements, in English or Spanish or both, interspersed with visual poems, Fluxus-like texts, hacks, and collaborations. Written in 2016, it is a tour de force of Bennett's unique poetics. "Your visuals are priceless, John ... I prefer them to so much experimental work, either in the realm of the so-called visual arts or "concrete poetry" (which they really ain't) ... your so-called poetry which calls itself verse, but is the cryptically deranged response to "official literature", stands head and shoulders above ... Superimpositions of the subconscious stripped of Freudian valor (values?) ... And knockout minimalism!" - Iván Argüelles. On Bennett's OJIJETE: OJIJETE can be "read" in a conventional sense and also experienced strictly on the visual level. Bennett uses fonts, typography, tropes from concrete poetry and a minimal use of visual images to create one of the more effective image-texts that I have ever seen. I see in OJIJETE Ezra Pound's Cantos using ideograms, the fluidity of Paterson by William Carlos Williams and, of course, Charles Olson's Maximus. John M. Bennett is one of the few visual poets today who has the knowledge and skills to use the lessons of literary Modernism (and errors) to create a 21st century vispo. OJIJETE is a shining example of his abilities. - De Villo Sloan in Asemic Front 2.