{A Statement of Intent}

 River, Fractured, the poem you are about to read, has been under construction for a number of years, a meandering project of random recollections, varying retention of fractured memories, sensory impressions, textures, and dream logic. Understandably, over time, its original intentions have blurred into something new, the themes re-focused with heightened imagery and transforming details. At the source, however, the core objective remains intact: to craft a wilding metaphor which displays the voice of an individual’s unique perspective of the world. This unnamed persona exists in a self-aware moment of flux, within the change of mundane patterns from day-to-day, the now moment unfolding, enveloped by an undefined segment of time, and as a result, escaping the parameters of typical linear perception. A lifetime of information opens out to the reader in a collage-like fashion, merging multiple points of view and half memories into the text.

To achieve this, each line (or set of lines) exists as a fraction snapped from a longer train of thought, as an interruption of rushed observations, or a broken view from the window of a train in full motion. Reality often does not provide closures, nor firm denouement. Language often does not communicate a full impression of purpose within random conversations. Distractions exist: snatches of the outside environment and the occasional interior monologue break into usual patterns of discourse between two willing people in average conversations.

What you will find retained in the text however is a rhythmical pull and take, riptide undercurrents of poetry built upon personal experiences, colloquial and academic expressions, cultural events— all of which were experienced by the persona who recounts honestly, sometimes bluntly, what was/is witnessed, what was/is experienced. Likewise, as a nontraditional epic-protagonist in this long pseudo-epic poem, the main character shifts in within masks of pronouns— further blurring self-identity towards a broader concept of diversity awareness.

Finally, readers need to keep in mind, the poem is currently being developed. Daily, weekly, additional material is applied, old material rewritten, rephrased. What it comes down to is this: as a blog, River, Fractured is not an archival of a finished product. Rather, this site exists as a living document: the text in continual cycles of construction-destruction-reconstruction as the source nears the eventual completion. Yes, the end goal itself is in sight. Yet, time will tell how long the path is ultimately.