J.D. McClatchy

Feeding off of the extensive research I have recently been doing on McClatchy and his work, I decided to youtube him to see what came up. I watched a few interviews he was a part of, noticing his poise and subtle sense of humor. All in all, he seemed like a respectable man and a passionate poet. As I continued to do some research on McClatchy, I found a ten minute video where he talked about Mozart and his love for him. McClatchy talked about how intelligent Mozart was and that “he lavishes the simplicity of all of his characters regardless of their moral bearings.” This particular quote he made in his presentation intrigued me because I saw this sort of style in all of his poems. He would take very delicate subjects, such as a jihad, and write it where his characters were simple. The boy in the poem with the bomb strapped to his chest is not described as lavish or strong or powerful, but rather just a young boy about to commit a horrific crime. This innocence performing this horrendous act shows a character that is simplistic regardless of his moral bearings. I found this link between the way McClatchy described Mozart and his own work showing the same characteristics rather intriguing.