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.
