Yes, this is about poetry. Wait -- keep reading!

I'm back again, after a business trip to Washington DC. Lucked-out with the weather -- it was cold, but nice and clear. I enjoy the cold, anyway. Actually, I enjoy "weather" of any kind, which is kind of ironic, since I ended up living in a place that doesn't have any.

So, yeah...poetry. I admit, I don't know very much about poetry. Of course, we had to study it a little back in high school. At that time, I decided that my favorite poet was A.E. Housman. And not even because of that one about the long-distance runner (in fact, I never was crazy about it). I liked some of his shorter works, because they were a little more edgy, sometimes even creepy. I also remember that I liked Conrad Aiken, but I can't remember why. And I remember that the Poet Laureate of the World Wrestling Federation in the 80's was Leaping Lanny Poffo.

Apart from that, I never really paid much attention to poetry. That is, not until earlier this year, when I virtually bumped into Kristin Cash. Kristin had a Myspace page where she posted poetry (she has since moved to Xanga.com), and once I started reading her poems, I couldn't stop. I read every single poem she had up on the site, and I have read every one she has posted since. True story. Why did I read them all? Umm, because she's fucking brilliant, that's why.

Of course, she would be the last one to admit it. Kristin sees herself as just another of America's damaged youth, but if there are more like her out there, then this country is going to turn out OK after all. Maybe we need to be damaged in order to be able to fix things. As Kristin herself put it, she is "Dizzy in the good way".

There is something about Kristin's poetry that is utterly absorbing. It's probably useless to try to explain why I find it that way, because a poem can have as many meanings as it does readers. Personally, the meaning that I divine from most poetry is "This is crap". But I instantly liked Kristin's stuff, and even if I ever did get a fleeting "this is crap" thought in my head, the next line in the poem would be No, you're crap / So fuck off. I can sense that you don't believe me. Don't worry...you'll see.

If I have any minor criticism, it's that Kristin has started writing some poems in a Hip-Hop-style meter. I know that she's a fan of Hip-Hop, which makes perfect sense, since it's the closest that music comes to pure poetry. But I just don't share the love. To me, lyrics by Liz Phair or Aimee Mann are as stinging as any in Hip-Hop...and they're by women! Women... hey, Hip-Hop, remember those? The females that existed before you called them "ho's"? (God I'm lame.) Anyway, I originally got hooked on Kristin's freeverse style, so now I miss it when I don't get my fix. But don't let any of this dissuade you; it's not like she went out and got a "Thug Life" tattoo across her sternum. In fact, her recent work has been very true-to-form.

If for some reason you're still skeptical, just go read her stuff. Like I said -- you'll see. Notice that I put up a permanent link to her Xanga page in the column to the right, so from now on you have no excuse to avoid it (apart from avoiding this page, I suppose -- which loads of people still do, with depressing consistency). The good news is that she has all of her earlier Myspace poems archived on the Xanga site.

Did I mention that she's from Buffalo, NY? Hot wings, lake-effect snow, and Kristin Cash. Well, they've got one thing to be proud of...