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Tag Archives: poetics
on the Persistence of Poetry (Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin)
“There is a relation between language and truth that is very subtle and is always changing. For the reader or listener who can appreciate the constant shifting, each new poem one finds is a fresh statement of that relation. Because … Continue reading
Second-Hand: Vanessa Place, Conceptualism, & Flarf
I have almost no idea what Conceptualism is and understand nothing at all of Flarf, but Joshua Corey’s notes on Vanessa Place’s recent AWP presentation “Notes on Why Conceptualism is Better than Flarf” are still delightful: Vanessa Place’s paper is … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged conceptualism, flarf, joshua corey, poetics, vanessa place
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Pure Sound Poetry
The attitude about meaning espoused by Ken Babstock in this interview puzzles me. To wit: SQ: Ken, when you read in Montreal in the fall I found myself wanting to close my eyes and be carried away by the sound … Continue reading
on the Accusatory “You” (Alice Fulton)
“detective or mystery convention is of course the group exposition scene at the end, in which the detective tells a gathered group, often including the culprit, what happened. If addressed to the criminal, it’s in the second person, informing the … Continue reading
on Loving their own generalizations (Mark Halliday)
The latest issue of Pleiades (30.1) has a great piece of criticism by Mark Halliday (“Pushcart Hopes and Dreams”), in which he discusses the Pushcart Prize nomination process and his own part nominating poems, including a close look at his … Continue reading
on Ashbery and Academic Poetry (Stephen Dunn)
“Poets who defy making sense and do it deliberately and often brilliantly (as Ashbery can) are making a kind of sense, and may be extending the range of what poetry can do, though they ensure that poetry’s audience will be … Continue reading
on Writing to Form (X. J. Kennedy)
“Poems for me never begin with the abstract idea of any form. You can’t set yourself to write a sonnet or villanelle. Any sonnet that makes good is a sonnet-sized explosion in heart, mind, and gut, and it sneaks up … Continue reading
Posted in Commonplace Book
Tagged cpb, journals, poetics, writers on writing, xj kennedy
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Sherman Alexie on Poetry Slams
[CC licensed image by moontan] “What the slams are all about is an attempt to create an oral tradition. The real issue is that I don’t think there’s a lot of critical distinction in the slams. They are more interested … Continue reading
the véhicule press blog
I just discovered that Carmine Starnino, who wrote the “Lazy Bastardism” notebook entry I referred to yesterday, blogs via the véhicule press blog. Go check it out! Apparently Starnino has even linked here before (w/r/t Jason Guriel). I missed that … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged blogs, carmine starnino, poetics, poetry, Publishing, vehicule press
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Lazy Bastards & Shared Meaning
[CC licensed image by topshampatti] The January 2010 issue of Poetry has an interesting “notebook” by Carmine Starnino on “Lazy Bastardism”. Starnino makes a case for difficult poetry… or at least not giving in to notions of making poetry more … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged aesthetics, carmine starnino, joshua mehigan, poetics, poetry, Writing
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on The Special Music of Poetry (Paul Valery)
[image by ThomasThomas] And as for the music of poetry, that special music I mentioned, it is imperceptible to some; unimportant for most; for others it is the object of abstract research, sometimes scientific and nearly always sterile. I know … Continue reading
The Roots of My Anti-Intellectualism (tRoMAI)
On July 4 at 3:10a–when I should have been resting up for a day of starting forest fires with illegal fireworks and burning hearty meats on the grill in celebration of my country, the One Country to Rule Them All–I … Continue reading
Reading an Avant Garde/Post Avant Poem
Since every term used to delineate non-mainstream poetry from mainstream poetry is problematic (including all the terms I just used in the title and thise sentence), just take them with a grain of salt or mentally substitute your favorite term. … Continue reading
Flarf, Bleh
I clearly live in a different world than the flarfists and their new admirers. My reaction to the Poetry magazine feature on flarf was a long, sighing, bleeeeeeeehhhhhhh. With a few exceptions—Jordan Davis’s second poem and Sharon Mesmer’s entry—the poems … Continue reading
Looking for the Door
[wow, this post got mangled somehow. I've fixed it. I think.] I’m convinced that the variety of contemporary poetry scenes and the poems that emerge from them provide clear evidence that poetry is not only alive and well, but more … Continue reading
on What Stands Between Us and Our Desire (Frank Bidart)
InterviewerTu Fu is a kind of reporter. Frank BidartExactly. There’s always a pane of glass between you and what you desire. We live in a world where we are surrounded by people who tell us you can break the pane … Continue reading
Dickman, Schiavo, and Bad Reviews
A post on a mailing list brought my attention to Michael Schiavo’s body-slamming take down of Matthew Dickman’s recent volume of poetry All-American Poem. I don’t have any real problem with negative reviews, though I do find them generally less-than-productive … Continue reading
Posted in Art & Life & Politics
Tagged criticism, matthew dickman, michael schiavo, poetics, reviews
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from “Manifest of the Flying Mallet” (Michael Hofmann)
Poetry is–as the poet said, though his subject was butterflies–an army of stragglers. Contemporaries, aeons, and cultures apart slog wordlessly through the mud together, not at all pally, not at all like Virgil and Dante. There’s no uniform, no team … Continue reading
from “Statement for the Paterson Society” (Frank O’Hara)
…it’s a pretty depressing day, you must admit, when you feel you relate more importantly to poetry than to life. –Frank O’Harafrom “Statement for the Paterson Society”
The Plumbline School
[photo by suttonhoo] Look out poets, poetasters and poetry pornsters, there’s a new school in town: The Plumbline School. I have to admit I’m still baffled by the whole thing, but any idea that puts the question to Ron Silliman‘s … Continue reading