In reviewing the various works of Mr. Carlo Baines, I have discovered that he tends to contradict himself between his material. For example, in the poem "Untitled," Mr. Baines mentions that the subject of his incessant gushing enters his thoughts "And those thoughts are lucid no longer." However, in the poem "Answer," he praises her as the universal solution to all of his problems and basically dubbs her the harbringer of clarity to his apparantly troubled existence. So which is it, Mr. Baines? Does this girl enlighten you and make you feel like a better man, or does she weigh you down and confuse you even further? Did it ever hit you that maybe it isn't that you're seeing things more clearly now, but rather your sight has lessened since this girl has entered your life? Of course you haven't. You're a love-blind idiot, Baines. You don't have the most remote glimmer of a clue of what in the hell is really going on because you are so stuck on this girl that you can't see straight. You're cross-eyed. However, that will all change when she rips your heart out of your ass and lacerates it wildly with her own cold, apathetic lack of show of emotion. I know you better than you think I do, Carlo. I know the real story behind your various shows of tribute. The sole reason that you write what and how you do is because you're so obsessed with wishful thinking that it has contaminated the work of an otherwise decent writer. Your poems are what you wish was reality. She doesn't really touch you that deeply. I'm not even sure if you really love her. I'm not even certain that you have the most vague of a hold on what love really is. And I'm fairly certain that she doesn't uplift you that much. However, if that is the case, then I must confess that I feel great quantities of sympathy towards you. The higher she lifts you, Mr. Baines, the further you have to fall.
Sincerely,
Carlton O'Dell
For a long time I thought I knew who Albert was, really was. But now that I have read his "Me, Myself, and I" I think that maybe I never knew him to start off with. Maybe I just thought I knew him. After reading his work I don't even know how much I know myself. I have to admit that I have a "me for them", "me for me", and a "me for him". I am me for me with three people and that isn't including myself. I am "me for them" almost all the time and the "me for them" is so far from the "me for me" that it is saddening. I too want to be the "me for me" all of the time and in my own time maybe I will be able to face myself and have enough confidence to forget what everyone else thinks of me and worry about what I think of me. Albert, thank you for allowing me to see this side of you, even if I don't know who you are.
Amanda Oliver
