Jen Bervin’s, Nets, published by Ugly Duckling Presse 2004, is a collection of 60 sonnets by William Shakespeare, reconfigured to make contemporary meaning with his words. Bervin used grey type to print Shakespeare’s classic sonnets and then bolded her chosen words in black. She has “stripped” the classical Shakespearian sonnets down to their “nets” and reveals a duality of meanings within the work. Jen Bervin describes her process of writing, “When we write poems, the history of poetry is with us, pre-inscribed in the white of the page..” For the reader she has replicated this inscription, allowing one to understand exactly how history informs her pieces, simultaneously revealing how she transforms the historical work. The ambiguity of the minimal form along side the openness of her writing invites the reader to draw many conclusions of their own. Bervin has, with purpose, successfully used omission as a strong component of her book. The lack of page numbers, titles or added explanation gives the reader a freedom to explore her work much as she has done previously with Shakespeare’s originals. One may choose to read this as one long strung together poem, 60 short poems bolded in black, or classical sonnets with highlighted emphasis. Bervin challenges the reader to authorize their own version with the way in which one may read her piece. Building an infinite collection of poems, bound not by space or time, yet existing within this one similar, classical vocabulary, Shakespearian sonnets.
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