Thank Goodness for an Introduction: Lyn Hejinian

Normally I avoid introductions, thinking that I don't need a strangers opinion on this literary persons creation; that the work should speak its essence to me without any meddling mediator. However, in regards to Lyn Hejinian, I'm so glad that I was presented with a set of loose guidelines with which to navigate her writing. It allowed me to be prepared to pay attention. And I paid attention, I drew lines between words that seemed similar to me, which helped me find the odd one out. I wondered at her animation of inanimte object and denial of the motion of other things. She might not make a whole lot of sense in her writing, but the writing itself is interesting, the use of certain phrases, the challenging of assumptions, the creation of images that are innovative but perhaps not all together unfamiliar, made me grow to have a great deal of respect for her. I wondered at the meaning or purpose of the little italicized side notes which accompanied 'from My Life', perhaps they're moral guidelines, or a bit of a voice from the author to help us feel that we're not all together alone with this matter, or simply words of wisdom similar to a daily quote to be pondered on. This elusiveness is intriguing but not off-putting to me. Why should everything be easy?