Kevin McPherson Eckhoff in conversation with Jacob McArthur Mooney

Coach House poet kevin mcpherson eckhoff and Jacob McArthur Mooney recently had an email conversation about Rhapsodomancy, experimentation and the importance of play in poetry.

'Jacob McArthur Mooney: Specifically with this book, would you advise people to try and learn something about the source alphabets first, or experience the text ignorant? ...

kevin mcpherson eckhoff: Well, the poetry seems to work as conceptual writing in that readers shouldn’t need a glossary of HOW Shorthand or Unifon embody sounds, but it might help if they knew that both were effectively designed to do so and are now silent, which is addressed in the notes section of the book. However, I wonder if the poetry asks that readers be unfamiliar with Shorthand and Unifon. Maybe.

Ultimately, I think what readers get out of the collection—obvious police: as with any book—will also greatly depend on the knowledge and attitudes they bring to the writing. Don’t expect. Most of the “meanings” are only (or less than) half-present. I suppose my hope is that readers become master-kid-observers themselves and approach this project confidently and curiously and individually.'

Read the whole interview here.