?I Not I? is a mighty big chunk to chew. The CD?s worth of spoken word poetry and prose would be a lot to absorb no matter the poet. Anbian gives it the heroic try, reading his bemused tales of personal, political and sexual woe with confidence and intimacy. It is that sense of casually listening to art over a few beers that makes the set work. San Francisco poets have perfected this reverent/irreverent chant for years, so it is no surprise that that is where Robert Anbian comes from. One of the joys of Beat poetry is that it is in love with everything; everything is grist for holy experience. However one of the banes of Beat poetry is that it is in love with everything; common impressions and thoughts are treated as holy. Anbian certainly loves the fight for justice and righteousness; he also loves his own words. So the potential power in the wise, incendiary words of ?On The Poor Side of the City? or ?My Country Loves Peace? are also exactly the kind of words you?d expect from poems with such titles, and so the power is watered down by common ideas. The message needs to be said, but in poetry the idea is to hear the commonplace in new ways, or at least ways that you think deeper about the everyday struggles. I?d say the best poetry shocks you into seeing what is right in front of you.

Too many of these poems exists on the surface; they remain statements. Better are poems where Anbian uses direct imagery about shared experience, such as in ?In a bar we called?? or ?We loved the world?? Likewise ?Life, though mean...? ; here, matter of fact narrative and blunt language reflect simple memories and hopes we all share. Rather than being preachy, Anbian includes the listener in poems like these.

In that sense, the second disc of short stories works better, as they are direct, unadorned tales perfect for the bar or coffeehouse. They are straight on narratives that don?t need to be anything more than that. While both ?The Day I Became White? and ?War? make some obvious points at times, the tone is again inclusive and the extra time taken to develop the narrative works to his advantage, and display a skill at little details that were only hinted at in many of the poems. 6/10 -- Mike Wood (9 September, 2008)