Non Conformism

Howe's poems certainly lived up to their title. I think she is challenging the reader to find meaning in a work that is apparently devoid of any meaning. Like Dickinson and Stein, she points in a direction and then in another, and still another direction the reader should take toward any understanding of the text. The challenge is to find the underlying theme, if it even exits. In some ways this writing makes for uncomfortable reading. I would compare it to reading the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange. You have to reformulate your understanding of language to comprehend the author's design. That book and these poems cannot be filtered through the lens of tradition.