In his introductory letter to these poems, Brian McCandless wrote, "They seem offensive--although I would argue that by being offensive to everyone, they're really harmful to no one in particular." That, of course, depends on how one defines harm. Brian's poems are certainly merciless -- they cynically expose the traps and illogic of modern thought, skewering popular philosophy into so many meaningless words. Brian McCandless insults our ideals with precision and common sense.
Brian says, "I'm a high school teacher and freelance editor living in Austin, Texas. I've published poems and stories in a bunch of local journals.
"I am writing an essay about the two most influential (in my opinion) poets who wrote in English in the 20th Century, T.S. Eliot and Allen Ginsberg. I am looking at how our notions of what a poet is and what he or she does was shaped in such different ways by these two figures--one with his elusive, conservative, aggressively elitist verbal constructions, the other with his vulgar, almost assaultive radical plainsongs. I'm interested in any thoughts the readers of Unlikely Stories may have concerning the contrasting styles, intentions, and spiritual and political ambitions of these two figures." Take him up on the offer at Bmccands1@aol.com.Brian's works here at Unlikely Stories are:
2001:
The Littlest Nazi
Rainbow Army
My Love Is Nature's Newest Way of Turning Sunshine into Shit