Robert Thompson offers one reading of Gerry Gilbert's Moby Jane through "Picture Windshield." For Gilbert, life is diachronic, moving, made of things and things happening, "incidents" which are "incidental" to one another, and to the poem. Engaging the space in Gilbert's writing frees the reader from the "fixed." Gilbert's writing is representative of "a life tracking itself." Add the reader's tracks to Gilbert's and the readings/ relationships in Moby Jane become multiple. Layout, syntax, word-play -- all contribute to the open play of signification. Gilbert's perception and writing are grounded in the local, but it isn't always possible to make sense of Gilbert's work, for he is frequently simply playing -- with words, images, concepts, and people, including the reader.
