Nietzsche in a train station

Abstract

Although Nietzsche in a Train Station is referential, the poems are not written for the scholar with a pen in hand, but are for the average reader with a laptop by his or her side. The "Mr. Everidge" poems attempt to capture the frenetic pace and fragmented consciousness of the information age, while maintaining a core identity. Although some poems directly take the narrative aspect of the short story and compress it as much as possible, using the sound of the language as much as the literal meaning to tell the story, every poem is a self-contained narrative. Many of the poems in this collection follow traditional forms and subjects, such as Shakespearian sonnets that explore kinds of love; however, a majority of the poems explore less traditional forms and rhythms. Stylistically, the poems tend to use long, complex sentences, with the occasional willful rebellion against traditional grammar. The poems drive toward a resolution, and everything structurally serves this purpose. Each poem is in essence a question about the things existing outside of everyday experience, the constructions created for and by the individual, constructions that both sustain and limit a life.