Epistemology and Karla Kelsey

Upon reading Mathias Svalina's review of Knowledge, Forms, the Aviary the philosophical nature of Karla Kelsey grows and develops in ways which intrigued me. Svalina jumps right into Kelsey's work with what she calls "poetic epistemology." Moreover Kelsey's work grapples with philosophical questions of how knowledge is acquired and "possessed" through the poetic vehicle of language. By taking language, harnessed with the accumulation of connotation and subliminal messages, and bringing us into its essence Kelsey creates a profound sense of awareness.

Svalina especially notes that "[Kelsey's] poetry arrives at meaning through a participatory process." We are indeed her parts, as Kelsey's poem, "I Was Working the Free Radicals" implicitly states. The reviewer comes to enlightening point that "not only are we entering the poetry media res, but that we will never be able to enter the full lyric experience." Here Svalina bring us into the incessant philosophical problem of infinite regression. Let us take knowledge as the product of truths and beliefs, in purely philosophical terms. As justifications are based on beliefs, one must ask for justification of the belief, leading to a never ending sequence of justifications and beliefs. Yet Kelsey circumnavigates this problem. She both immerses us in her emotions and metaphor, and attacks the possession of knowledge. As we noted in class Kelsey enacts her emotion, moving beyond the sticky, wax of time and relationship. Here shown in Aperture 2:

rich orange

inflourescence portends

making way back from

the Atlantic---symbol

of the flower after

blooming

Here Kelsey's deliberate questioning of language also appears in her augmented word "inflourescent," the certainty of its definition remaining poignantly ambiguous. Svalina also notes Kelsey's use of metaphor over sensory data. This point follows tandem with Kelsey's disruption of possession. How well do our senses really pick up the world around us? How do we make our assumptions based on them? Possession seems weakened at the end of Aperture 2:

coda of the olive tree, pure, pointed under radio frequency we can hear meteors and that

abandoned city wasting in the valley of white sands, fed under the flares gone tracing

another life, held here, tied, the kite string to metal elements rusting

Slavina gives us a review which encompasses the philosophical power of Kelsey's work through the lens and focus of her poetic discovery. Kelsey brings us to a more heightened sense of awareness by opening us up and throwing us against the brick walls of possession. Nevertheless she leaves us with a sense of security, "I breathe, and I assure you / something happens."