Spencer Madsen has truly grown as a writer as his hair has truly grown as hair. Yep, that better-covered noggin possesses a mind working at the height of its powers.
What’s Spencer been doing to hone his mighty fine writing ability you might ask? Let me tell you with the force of a thousand suns. “I did these things today” continues down the path Spencer already set for himself with his book “A Million Bears”: mining his experiences for all they are worth. No surrealism here, you’re given the day in the life of Spencer Madsen. That means you know what he ate, where he went, what he read, and most importantly what he listened to during the day. Voyeurism fits Spencer like a glove so this Tumblr is simply an extension of his obsessions. I learned from this Tumblr that Spencer has an OK Cupid profile. OK Cupid seems to be the dating site of choice for young, virile writers.
Documenting food consumption is only one of Spencer’s many talents. The other talents involve moving to Brooklyn (long overdue) and writing (yeah, that’s the stuff). Some of the writing is good, some of it is better than good, it is what we call in the writing world, very good. After working on his craft for so long, hanging out with Jacob Steinberg, and having an extremely bleak daily diet consisting of nearly nothing, he’s about ready to bust on out into the internet blog-o-sphere.
“Bergen Street” continues Spencer’s recent foray into longer formats. I actually adored this short story. Everything about it screamed Spencer Madsen. First, I’ve actually been to “Building on Bond” before and possess a business card from said establishment. That is excellent. Besides that there’s the story itself which contains the same sort of goofy bleak humor Spencer has pretty much trade marked by now. What surprised me was how the ending of the story was unusually tender if not downright sweet. It wasn’t sweet in a cornball-ish ‘aw’ kind of way, it was genuinely moving and I ended up caring about Austen. People have problems writing about emotions and experiences but Spencer was far away in describing it yet tender in creating a mood. After reading this I hope Spencer decides to focus more on these short stories.
Poetry is where Spencer’s passion truly lies, waiting to be discovered half-naked like a collection of slutty lines. For his most recent poems (found on amphibius) he focuses on mundane day to day life. The first part really struck a chord with me as I’ve had to buy pairs of pants before due to stains, general destruction and growth. As Liam Bjartrún Adams stated in his Facebook critique the takeaway line is
“i feel brand new and very alone
i wonder if anyone will notice.
my new pants, i mean”
It shows off Spencer’s gently weird humor. It’s why he’s on OK Cupid, picking up the hot ladies with his love poetry. Steve Roggenbuck commented on the second part of this epic three part poem, calling the line “is it worth the calories though” as a life-changing experience that has forever changed his perception of pumpkin lattes.
I am pretty stoked about Spencer Madsen’s future not merely as a poet, but also as a person. Things seem to be going hunky-dorky for the mischievous miscreant. Here’s hoping he continues this great streak of creativity.
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