About the Poems - CR
About the Poems
by Charles Jensen The poems appearing in No Tell are from a longer series of poems inspired by Pedro Almodóvar's film All About My Mother. I became somewhat obsessed with the characters in the film, their relationships, and began exploring some versions of their voices. It became apparent to me in these writings that every character in the film—male or female—was a mother to or mothered by someone else. "The Field" and "Huma Rojo" borrow generously from scenes in the film. The others are invented histories that, I think, extrapolate the characters of the volatile lovers in the film. I'm attracted to these voices as they arrive from the margins—the margin between male and female, between mother and lover, between virtue and sin.