More Substance Please Sir !

The Kills are rocking me this morning. I've been contemplating the idea of information overload (esp. image overload) and poetry either resisting or accelerating the overload.



I've heard on many occassions that poetry helps a person slow down. But I am not sure I want to slow down if slow down means:



1) pastoral freeze frame of nullifying nature ("nature" is anything but slow)

2) the aesthetic gaze/glaze

3) dense but good for you (i.e. Heaney porridge)



However, if slow down means:



1) Wow, what a interesting construction (image, syntax etc.)

2) I've read this twice for speed; now it's time to read once for close and slow.



Then I can dig it.



Overwise, gimme speed. Energy.



On another note:



Substance is throwing me for a loop. As in:



"This novel Blood and Guts in High School has no substance. It's got nude drawings and strange dream maps. Just a shock gimmick."



"Kurt Vonnegut has pictures."



"But Vonnegut has substance."



How can "I" acquire substance? What makes substance apparent? Do some combinations of letters contain more substance than other combinations? Is substance related to sustenance?



Is substance related to character? As in: "that fella over there has real substance."



A kind of feel me up feel me down?



A sub stance?



Subjective substance?



Subjective Substance