“Madness” consists of 10 sections: an introduction, selected poems from eight fictional collections and a concluding section of “Last Poems”. Throughout the character moves – from Cuba to Washington, DC, to Los Angeles to Philadelphia and beyond. With every change of time and location, his writing style also changes. The work moves from short texts to multi-page poems whose excessive repetitions almost invite to be read aloud. They discuss a range of topics: mental health, environmentalism, migration, gay love. The tone remains fairly consistent, with an anxious introspection, often aimed at a ‘you’ who generally appears to be the poet’s partner. Remember the poem “On Moss”:
I keep having these realizations
as i get older it gets tiring
as they constantly remind me
of my bad form
the subtle singing in your speech…
The poem meanders in image and introspection, before continuing:
I have to keep the mental image
of moss and the moss itself
the sound of water trickling down a stone
I’m just so mad at you.
The tone of this excerpt can be found elsewhere in “Madness”, but the nature of the project means that no quote is emblematic. For example, here’s a passage from the middle of the book, from a section labeled “Excerpts from the Diaries of Luis Montes-Torres,” which maintains the tone but completely changes the approach to capitalization, punctuation, line breaks, and conceit, rejecting even its framing as a poem:
I feel like a videotape. † Am I a good writer? † Seen an air show
today and enjoyed it but now i keep imagining them crashing. To attempt-
to turn that off. † Are frames so important in the visual arts?
Reading about frames today in the library and still can’t figure it out. † † † †
Given the range of forms and treatments of the book, it is brilliantly composed. Each section begins with an “Editor’s Note” to introduce the next work, which describes the social context of the poet’s life (“Montes-Torres had become fascinated with the flooding and collapse of the New York subway system.” City in early 2027″) as well as his craft decisions. This strategy allows Ojeda-Sagué to guide readers and set their expectations. For example, the comment in a section called “The Ocean as It Shouldn’t Be” explains that Montes-Torres’ interest in the text, the comparison, the non sequitur, the ordinary, and forms of difference are still there – just flatter, more conventional.”