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Controversial poets have often been mentioned in the Left Bank Review, poets whose work raised more than one eyebrow and prompted more than one tongue to wag. For example, Hart Crane wrote "America's Plutonic Ecstasies" that opened with, "preferring laxatives to wine/ all america is saying/ 'how are my bowels today?' and/ feeling them in every way…." Mina Loy, too, wrote poems that were radical in style and content, finding that many magazines would not publish them. Her critics were horrified by her lack of punctuation as well as by her subject matter that often dealt with human sexuality.
John Birkbeck is another poet who writes exactly what he means to say. Mr. Birkbeck paints canvasses with verbal brushes, but does not necessarily attempt to make all of his subjects pretty. In fact, his words are often visually visceral. Take for example lines such as " Curiosity does for the cat/ what doggie-style does/ for key hole peekers" (from "The Pink Room," Longitudes), or "…the warm damp/ umber melting into my pores to be-smear/ the soft brown over me like a stenchless/ shitmassage…"(from "Painting Browns," Longitudes). As offensive as these images may be to the sensibilities of some, the reader cannot help but see the images expressed. And so it is with all of Birkbeck's poetry; each one reveals his snapshot of reality. His style, his subject matter may be controversial, but his poetry unmistakable reflects the gut of reality.
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