"Kill your boyfriends" -Alex Dimitrov

Last Thursday after class myself and a few other classmates went to a reading at the Lilian Vernon Creative Writers House. There were two people who read their work that night Marie Howe and Alex Dimitrov. I would like to focus on Alex Dimitrov because this reading was the release of his book “Begging for it” which I purchased and have now read. One thing that kept my eyes fixed on Alex was the way in which he spoke and read allowed his own work. His poems are so innately personal and yet he read them with confidence and composure. In the first poem he read he stated,  ‘This is not a personal poem – I don’t write about my life” This statement was later followed by “ I had an orgasm before writing this poem”. Alex Dimitrov’s poetry is so organically personal I thought it was fascinating that he began with a poem in which he then so clearly contradicted. Through his readings of a few poems I connected with the author and felt even though he is a gay man and I am a woman, I could relate to his experiences with relationships and sex.

After the first poem, I was looking to the back of the room to make sure I was the first person in line to buy his book. He also gave me an interesting idea. He gave himself the task of writing an instructional poem, which the read to us. His poem was entitled “kill your boyfriends” and was one of my favorite poems he read. I went to this reading not expecting much and walked out with my new favorite book of poetry. 

Alex Dimitrov and Marie Howe Reading Reflection

I attended the poetry readings at the Lillian Vernon house where Alex Dimitrov read from his book Begging for It and Marie Howe read from her book a Kingdom of Ordinary Time. The first thing I realized when I heard Alex read his first poem is that the artist knows how to read his own poem. Honestly, I would not have liked his poetry as much if I had read them without hearing him reading it first. One poem he talked compared a mosquito to a lover. One line was about the mosquito drawing blood from his body so cruelly he mistook it for love. Dimitrov's poetry is very relatable to the current generation, and he writes about homo-eroticism and other traditionally controversial topics "without shame", as the person who introduced him said.

Marie Howe, interestingly, was Dimitrov's teacher and mentor. She currently teaches at NYU, and is an impressive figure. When she began talking, I could not help but be absorbed in her voice. The most important thing I learned from Howe was that even the greatest poets rely on their friends for help, and benefit from coincidence. She described how one of her books of poetry won 2nd place, and 3rd place at many competitions, but could not reach the 1st place plateau. Then, one of her friends reorganized the book, and it began sweeping in all of the rewards. Also, she recounted a conversation with a psychic where she was deciding between "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Ordinary Time" for the name of her book, and the psych said the name should be "Kingdom of Ordinary Time". Howe said, "Well, of course it is."

Overall, attending the reading was a great experience. It taught me how personal poetry is.