Time and time again, when I ask artists I respect to give me a list of their favorite Los Angeles poets, the name Will Alexander pops up. Of course, Will Alexander is more than just a poet, he has put out a novel (Sunrise in Armageddon) published a book of plays (Inside the Earthquake Palace: 4 Plays) and an essay about Antonin Artaud, among other things. Kaleidoscopic Omniscience is a new collection that brings together three of his early collections: Asia & Haiti, The Stratospheric Canticles, and Impulse & Nothingness.

In addition to being a writer with multiple awards under his belt, including the Whiting Award, he is a visual artist and an educator.

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In his own words:

“I know this, that the poet has to be infused with the plasma, the river of poetry, so that the river sweeps through, and it takes up everything in its path. It all becomes part of the river. The poetry is flowing so strongly that it can in any direction. That’s what allows to go in any direction.”

Lunch Poems – Will Alexander

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It’s funny but so right, that watching Will Alexander read here in this video from 2007, I am struck at how new every poem still feels, how his work gives me the sense of anticipation that I feel toward a great thing that has yet to arrive.