This is not about what you think

Kudos to Scottish writer/poet Jim Murdoch for the most creative (and hilarious) example of how to tell readers about one's newly published book.

A dialogue that is not about what you think, to promote a book entitled This Is Not About What You Think, a collection spanning 31 years, of self-described "plain-speaker" Jim Murdoch's poetry.  (You can read samples of some of the poems here).

I especially liked this one:

Unbrokenness

There exists within physical things

the potential to be broken.

It is only a matter of time

and of unforeseen circumstances.

These things can be repaired, replaced

or buried and forgotten about.

Nothing can ever be unbroken.

His poem "Marks", hinges on the fact that the word "mark" has a double meaning: it is a synonym for 'scar', and it also indicates a grade.  The poem, Murdoch says, "leans heavily on the fact that meanings are not rigid.  There can be resonances."

For everything you ever wanted to know about the writing of this book, click here, where the poet interviews himself.  A poet with a sense of humor, writing about Life, in all its simplicity, complexity, and invitingly observable ... thereness.  [Ouch, what awkward wording. I only meant to say the invitation to observe may not be so subtle--like life itself, sometimes it confronts, and sometimes it obscures--or as one of Murdoch's poems cautions, sometimes it disappoints. Anyway ...]

The book seems definitely worth checking out, and I will. Am just passing the word along, for anyone interested.