“I was moved at times, by the open palette, but only at times. I could not decide how long to spend with each page–to analyze overmuch compromised the utterance; too little time and it was beyond my experience to absorb.”

This was a tough collection for me to appreciate fully, and (mostly) I blame myself and my limited experience for it. I have a fair background in jazz music (composition and performance) and have taught poetry for many years (including stream of consciousness and African American oral traditions). Even so, following Moten’s experience(s) through The Feel Trio was difficult, not because I needed explication of each image (the nature of neologies and assembled images suggested a sonic and rhythmic response more than linguistically figurative), but because they were layered so thickly from open stanza to stanza I found them challenging to direct.

Moments of beauty, connotations linked across pages, dialogues internal and external blending, along with histories personal and political, and overall moods of pain and brokenness massaged into creative power. I was moved at times, by the open palette, but only at times. I could not decide how long to spend with each page–to analyze overmuch compromised the utterance; too little time and it was beyond my experience to absorb. My best experience with the work was when I read it aloud, of course.

And perhaps that is the very issue: watching wonderful videos of Moten perform his work is a far more enriching experience, and I am compelled by his theory work. Somehow, the literary community says, this must ultimately be consigned to paper. And this paper is the physical distance placed upon my appreciation.