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"A note to Pound in heaven: Only one mistake, Ezra! You should have talked to women"
--George Oppen, _Twenty Six Fragments_
Archives:
xoxo Hey, E-Mail Me! xoxo
ManY PoETiKaL HaTs LisT:
Holly's Pirate-girl Hat,
chrismurray in a straw hat,
Michael Helsem's Gray Wyvern NOLA Fedora.
Duchamp's Rrose Selavy's flirting hat.
Max Ernst's Hats of The Hat Makes the Man.
Jordan Davis' The Hat!
poetry. hks' smelly head baseball cap.
Samuel Beckett's Lucky's
Black bowler hat,
giving his oration
on what's questionable in mankind,
in *Waiting for 'God-ot'*.
my friend John Phillips's 1969
dove gray fedora w/ wild feather.
Bob Dylan's mystery lover's Panama Hat.
Bob Creeley's Black Mountain Felt Boater Hat.
Duke Ellington's Satin
Top Hat. Acorn Hats of Tree.
Freud's 1950 City Fedora.
Joseph Brodsky's Sailor Cap.
Harry K Stammer's Copper Hat
Hell. Lewis LaCook's bowler hat(s).
Tom Beckett's Bad Hair Day
Furry Pimp Hat. Daughter Holly's black beret.
harry k stammer's fez. Cat
in the Hat's Hat & best
hat, Googling Texfiles:
crocheted hat with flames.
Harry K Stammer's tinseled berets.
Tex's 10 gallon Gary Cooper felt Stetson cowboy hat.
Jordan Davis's fedora.
Dali's High-heel Shoe Hat. Harry K Stammer's en-blog LAPD Hat
& aluminum baseball cap. cap'n caps. NY-Yankees caps. the HKS-in-person-caps
are blue or green no logos nor captions.
Ma Skanky Possum 10's nighttime cap.
moose antler hat. propeller beenie hat.
doo rag. knit face mask hat. Bob Dylan's & photographer Laziz
Hamani's panama hats. Mark Weiss's Publisher's Hat.
Rebecca Loudon's Seattle-TX-Hats'n'boots.
Ever-Evolving Links:
Silliman's Links
Dominic Rivron
Unidentified
Br Tom @ One & Plainer
Dan Waber: ars poetica anthology
Dan Waber: altered books anthology
chris daniels: Notes to a Fellow Traveller
Chris Daniels: Toward an Anti-Capitalist Poetry
David Daniels: The Gates Of Paradise
subterranean poets: Beijing Poetry Group
Charles Alexander/Chax Press: Chaxblog
Headlines Poetry: the latest weblog entries
Henry Gould's AlephoeBooks
Julie Choffel's Understory
Tom Murphy's former one
Jean Vengua's New Okir
Roger Pao's Asian-American Poetry
Tom Lisk: Oilcloth and Linoleum
Kevin Doran
Reb Livingston's Cackling Jackal Blog
Janet Holmes: Humanophone
Lorna Dee Cervantes
Mark Young's gamma ways
Brian Campbell: Out of the Woodwork
Shanna's DIY Publishing Blog
Galatea Resurrects: a Poetry Review
Tom Beckett
John Sakkis: BOTH BOTH
New Francois Luong:Voices in Utter Dark, KaBlow!sm is...
Old Francois Luong: Voices in Utter Dark
Margin Walker: Andrew Lundwall
Free Space Comix: the latest BK Stefans blog
Adam Lockhart, Experimentalist Composer
Antic View: Alan Bramhall & Jeff Harrison
lookouchblog: Jessica Smith
MiPOradio
Web Log -- Charles Bernstein
Google Poem Generator: Leevi Lehto
Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Feral Scholar: Stan Goff
worderos: Tom Beckett
In Galatea's Purse
Japundit
Quiet Desperation: Jim Ryal
Luca Antara: Martin Edmond
Brief Epigrams: Ryan Alexander MacDonald
Radio My Vocabulary: 4 pm Sunday Poetry Streams
Mark Lamoreaux: [[[0{:}0]]]
Hot Whiskey Blog
louder
Nick Bruno: They Shoot Poets Don't They?
Joe Massey: Rooted Fool
Kate Greenstreet: every other day
heuriskein: Tom Orange
Chiaroscuro Metropoli: Tom Beckett
Behrle's latest spout!
Fluffy Dollars: Michelle Detorie
Jane Dark's Sugar High!
The Katherine Anne Porter Literary Center
(Charles) Olson Now: Michael Kellaher & Ammiel Alcalay
kari edwards' TranssubMUTATION
Notes on the Revival: Jeremy Hawkins
PurPur: Petrus Pokus
Snapper Missives: Scott Pierce
A Sad Day for Sad Birds II: Gina Meyers
Great Works: Peter Philpot
zafusy: experimental poetry journal
Writeboard: a collaborative writing tool
John Latta: Rue Hazard
KP Harris: Croissant Factory
Stephanie Young's New Site
Stephen Vincent's New Site
Portable Press@Yo~Yo Labs
Square America
Amy King's blog
Robert: Peyoetry Hut
Muisti Kirja: Karri Kokko
Karri Kokko's Blonde on Blonde
Yummeee Blog (recipes)
Nice Guy Syndrome: Tim Botta
Left Hook
Del Ray Cross: anachronizms
Juan Cole: Informed Comment
BuzzFlash - Daily Headlines, Breaking News, Links
Aaron McCollough
Chris Lott's Cosmopoetica
Chad Parenteau
Little Emerson
Fever, Light--by Sawako Nakayasu
Second Wish
Nomadics
Alison Croggon
Radical Druid
Ron is Ron: the Ron Silliman Cartoon by Jim Behrle
Dagzine: Positions, Poetics, Populations: Gary Norris
Shadows within Shadows: Tom Beckett
Self Similar Writing: Jukka Pekka Kervinen
The Little Workshop: Cassie Lewis
Sky Bright: Jay Rosevear
Poesy Galore: Emily Lloyd
Lisa Jarnot's Blog
Poetry Hut: Jilly Dybka (has moved here)
Pornfeld: Michael Hoerman
Seven Apples: Justin Ulmer
Hi Spirits: Andrew Burke
Bacon Bargain!: Joe Massey
Ivy is here: Ivy Alvarez
Whimsy Speaks: Jeff Bahr
Umbrella: Jeff Wietor
Chicanas! (Susana L. Gallardo)
Masters of Photography
Blog of Disquiet: Gary Norris' Teaching Blog
Suzanna Gig Jig
Bad with Titles: Jay Thomas
Spaceship Tumblers! Tony Tost
Desert City: Ken Rumble
E-Po
Zotz!
Optative Mood: Tim Morris
ecritures bleues: Laura Carter
The Ingredient: Alli Warren
Skanky Possum Pouch
Slight Publications
Jewishy-Irishy: Laurel Snyder
Sea-Camel: Alberto Romero Bermo
Growing Nations: Jordan Stempleman
Tom Raworth
Entropy and Me: Hal Johnson
Scott Pierce: Snapper's Junk
Chicano Poet: Reyes Cardenas
Semio-Karl M&M
Stephen Vincent
Hoa Nguyen/Teacher's & Writers
a New Word Placements
Narcissus Works: Anny Ballardini
Richard Lopez
Tributary: Allen Bramhall
The_Delay: Chris Vitiello
Jukka Pekka Kervinen: Nonlinear Poetry
Lanny Quarles: Phaneronoemikon
Clifford Duffy: Fictions of Deleuze & Guattari
DagZine
Carrboro Poetry Festival
Steve Evans: Third Factory
DEBORAH PATILLO
SKANKY POSSUM PRESS
Tim Peterson: Mappemunde
WOOD'S LOT
Geof Huth: DBQP
Ann Marie Eldon
Jim Behrle: The Jim Side
Ray Bianchi:Postmodern Collage Poetry
Never Mind the Beasts
Diaryo
New Broom
Flingdump Scattershot
Tony Tost: Unquiet Grave
Grapez
SB POET
Mark Young's Pelican Dreaming
|||AS/IS2|||
Li's A Private Studio
Anny Ballardini's Poet's Corner
Tom Beckett: Vanishing Points
Dumbfoundry
BadGurrrlNest
Jean Vengua's Okir
Hear-it dot org: info on hearing problems
Tim Yu's Tympan
James Yeager's Modern Lives
Tony Robinson: Geneva Convention
Daniel Nestor's Unpleasant Event
Ex-Lion Tamer
Carlos Arribas: Scriptorium
David Nemeth
Ela's Incertain Plume
Mairead Byrne's Heaven
Catherine Daly
Black Spring
Br.Tom's Finish Yr Phrase
Shin Yu Pai: makura-no-soshi
Harry K. Stammer: Downtown LA
Corina's Fledgling Wordsmith
Jilly Dybka's Poetry Hut
Ben Basan's Luminations
Katey: Chewing on Pencils
YaY!! Eileen Tabios: Chatelaine Poetics !
Jill Jones: Ruby Street
Geoffrey Gatza's BlazeVox
Bill Allegrezza's P-Ramblings
Gary Sullivan's Elsewhere
GoldenRuleJones
Poetry_Heat
Bookslut
Chickee's SuperDeluxeGoodPoems
As-Is !
John Latta's Hotel Point
Sawako Nakayasu's Ongoing Show
Shanna Compton's Brand New Insects
Crag Hill
kari edwards: transdada
Fluss
Michael Helsem's Gray Wyvern
Word Placement
Bogue's Blog
Jordan Davis: Equanimity
Robert Flach's Unadulterated Text
Michelle Bautista
Ironic Cinema
Mike Snider
Farewell Tonio!
In Through the Out Door
The Blonde Brunette
Awake at Dawn on Someone's Couch is Toast
Jukka-Pekka Kervinen:Non-Linear
Xpress(ed) !
Chris Lott's Ruminate
Venepoetics
Laura: Yellowslip
Stick Poet Super Hero
Mighty Jens!
Radio UTA: Toni's Thursday Poetry Show
Tim Morris: Lection
Gabe Gudding
Constant Critic
Sappho's Breathing
Waves of Reading
Jhananin's Insite
Fanaticus
AdvExpo
Stephen Vincent
Stephanie Young: New Well Nourished Moon
Kasey Silem Mohammad's Newest Limetree
Lanny Quarles: (solipsis)//:phaneronoemikon
States Writes
Rebecca's Pocket
Simulacro
Braincase Links
Sentence
Sor Juana
73 Urban Bus Journeys
Poeta Empirica
poetry for the people: canwehaveourballback?
Ernesto Priego's Never Neutral
Nick Piombino's Fait Accompli
Weekly Incite blogresearch
Jim Behrle's first monkey
Jim Behrle's Monkey's Gone to Heaven
David Kirschenbaum's Boog City
Not Nick Moudry
Laurable
David Hess Heathens in Heat
Jack Kimball's Pantaloons
Li Bloom's Abolone
Ron Silliman
Chris Sullivan's Bloggchaff
Chris Sullivan's Slight Publications
Chris Sullivan's Department of Culture
Kasey S. Mohammad's Old-New Limetree
Kasey's Old Limetree
James Meetze: Brutal Kittens
Cassie Lewis: The Jetty
Joseph Mosconi's Harlequin Knights
Nada Gordon's Ululate
ultimate: Stephanie Young's First Well Nourished Moon
Steve Evans: Third Factory
Noah Eli Gordon's Human Verb
Jean Vengua's Blue Kangaroo
Sawako Nakayasu: Texture Notes
Free Space Comix: BK Stefans
Crosfader
Malcolm Davidson's eeksy peeksy
Marsh Hawk Press group
Catherine Meng's Porthole Redux
Josh Corey's Cahiers de Corey
Very Nice! Shampoopoetry
UTA's Lit Mag: ZNine
Wild Honey Press
Jacket
JFK's Poetinresidence
Malcolm Davidson's Tram Spark poems
HYepez: RealiTi
HYpez: Mexperimental
Aimee Nez's Gila Monster
BestMaX: Jim Behrle's jismblog
Cori Copp's Littleshirleybean
Jordan Davis: Million Poems
Eileen Tabios: Corpsepoetics [see Chatelaine above]
YaY! Liz's Thirdwish
Ultra Linking
Henry Gould's HG Poetics
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Saturday, June 14, 2003
Some thoughts on the question of poetic "comfort zones":
Over at Ron Silliman's blog, a dust devil's been whirling around. It's about perceptions of what Mr. Silliman* has defined and explained as the "school of quietude (SoQ)," on the one hand, and the survival of an American poetic (post) avant-garde, on the other. Various aspects of current and historical reception--and, no less, poetic practices--hang in the balance of difference between these.
Along comes Chris Lott at Ruminate Blog (who's actually been around for some time now: unless I have it wrong somehow, he several years ago was part of a partnership that started one of the earliest ezines: Eclectica.org), a very incisive thinker and strong voice on the poetic storm front (he seems to have a decent amount of good will, even if he messes up at times, making really bad choices in joking over folks' names, for which he then apologizes). Mr. Lott** seems to be asking for things to be perceived a little more integratedly, sort of a "can't we all just get along?" song, with his hypothesizing the figure of a "spectrum" to size up the scene that Mr. Silliman has described as divided in two main directions.
So, a spectrum can be of sound or color or quarks or all of these. Where one of these two, Mr. Silliman, divides the poetic world in two opposing colors, let's say, the other, Mr. Lott, would reconstitute this world in terms more like a rainbow coalition. Um... yes, Jesse J!--beginning to sound familiar?--maybe quarks are a better metaphor since once again some limits of the analogy are being manifested. But my additional point is that these are not new themes/conceptualizations in current world(s) of analysis, and each will have limitations. They are part of a larger bundle of cultural problematics, "symptoms" (if metaphors of cultural dis-ease are a factor) or "tools" (as in taking hold of what the so-called "master" has left laying around to be picked up and used to "dismantle" any unquestioned fealties or easy assumptions of ideals) as they are referred to in other critical venues and discourses. Rhetorically the problem is that the very definitions of the problems are affected by the ineffectiveness of language (in symbolizing) to be adequate to the real life (social) actions committed by language users, and vice versa (language is apriori, &c). Language can't do much but it's all we have to begin to try with (a useful reminder that Tim Yu also pointed out recently). That's always an on-going source for wonder and discussion, of course.
This got very complicated at Mr. Silliman's blog this week. What fascinated me most after the comprehensive analysis so far is this idea of a poetic "comfort zone" which pops up in two ways in Lott's discussion. It first appears as unquestionably posited, something possessed, naturally, by every artist; thus, in this context, assumedly it is possessed whether one is from the SoQ or the (post) avant positioning in the "spectrum." Mr. Lott says: "I'm sure there are artists of every stripe who want nothing to do with work that is outside their comfort zone" (posted as quoted to Mr. Silliman's blog on Thurs., June 12). After asserting this possession of a comfort zone, Mr. Lott tears it up in favor of showing some (albeit negative) common ground between these artists from the differing parts of the "spectrum," though the assertion of a naturalized and naturalizing "comfort zone" remains like a ghost to be made strange friends with (if one is an artist, eg., poet). He then comments that for all artists, therefore, the response to change is that they find it "disconcerting to be jarred out of [their] comfort zone."
This is in some ways a useful figure: "comfort zone"--calling to mind critical takes as wide ranging as scholar & cultural critic Mary Louise Pratt' s notion of the dynamics involved in "contact zones," Mary Englebritt's hugely successful line of T-shirts and other products displaying a comforting aphoristic yet somewhat radicalizing humor ("Life is just a chair of bowlies!"), and pop-psych takes on things such as "Co-dependent No More!" (don't know the author, tho I'm sure it's easy to find: I was in Barnes and Nobles here the other day and they had shelves of this and related materials prominently displayed, which says something but maybe only about this area?--tho I can't be sure what...). Mr. Lott uses the term to indicate how his "comfort zone" about poetry has been disrupted by notions of divisiveness in the tradition. Without disparaging any good energies the concept of a "comfort zone" offers, I think it's also useful to keep in mind how very contingent is is this notion--how very contingent, indeed, are such ways of characterizing what can be done with disputes and conceptualization, generally. I have to ask: what "comfort zone" is there in poetry? And if there is one, then how can it really be poetry? (which of course puts me not in the SoQ school, if that is an adequate representation of what's happening in poetry...).
To question this comfortable way of thinking seems to be where Mr. Silliman goes with his critique of Mr. Lott's conceptualizing, and Mr. Silliman's direction partly results, in turn, from another incisive response (from Ange Mlinko, posted to Mr. Silliman's blog June 12, also discussed with appropriate edginess on Friday, June 13, at Henry Gould's HG Poetics blog). Mr. Silliman deftly points out a major problem in Mr. Lott's concept of the "spectrum," in that tradition is not a static thing but indicates, rather, only a range of stances toward change. One major problem with the SoQ is the stance it takes that its static sense of tradition be taken as more authoritative, or "more traditional" than others.
Point is, I think, that yes, to know a tradition seems to require a little bit of "comfort" in the process of knowing (or the illusion of such?), perhaps, or one cannot ever assert and confirm what is known. But to desire an entire "zone" of comfort really is to desire to deny not only the changeable, transformative elements by making them seem static, but to ignore that these things exist as completely fluid: poetry and those who make it by questioning it (taking "a stance toward change," as Mr. Silliman points out) will not be found sitting still in a circle holding hands to make it all feel better or its makers find comfort in fluid conditions of existance versus static illusions, I am sorry to remind. I do not want to antagonize, here. Only to try to clarify and point out a misconception that if continued, would perpetuate a very unproductive set of illusions: even the so called "tradition," in many ways is an illusion, although necessary, I suppose, as a point of departure. The "avant" will always take a skeptical view toward stasis, and embrace change, ususally through high risks of one kind or another, and surprisingly, even the subtle can be risky sometimes.
What seems especially important is to continually question--and here I think of Nick Piombino's fine work in blog writing at fait accompli, the fine work in posting so many of his ongoing questionings over many years, of what is/was going on in the flow of poetry and his thinking, in the mindset that has an affinity for poetry, as well as an abundance of the cultural and philosphical questionings that accompany inclusive perspectives on poetry and poetic mindset. That questioning completely resists easy categorizing, especially in terms of the unfortunate figure, the "comfort zone." Nick Piombino's blog exemplifies what it is to work without a comfort zone--an important kind of fluid questioning and awe-inspiring approach to poetry and poetics, though of course his blog is also no less full of good will and is very inviting, as well.
So, let me say what I really got out of reading--and am grateful for--in Mr. Silliman's and Mr. Lott's blogs this week: I now have a better understanding of the useful notion of a "School of Quietude" as it can be applied to previously unfathomable (to me) cultural phenomena such as that of Billy Collins--not so much as a person attracting popular appeal--no, the mystery there for me is that he seems to have so much authoritative sway, thus to have created new ground in American poetic authority. Understanding this as a consequence of SoQ and its institutional manifestations is most helpful to me as a thinker right now. As for Mr. Lott, at this point I simply thank him for his pluck--it takes a lot of pluck to walk into these venues and speak ones mind so well (blogging)--I think he's doing that and it's his pluck that gets the job done.
Finally, the essential working difference between the "SoQ" and the poetic avant?--the SoQ seems to promote satisfaction with its brand of status quo, which is also conceptually a place of stasis. This means a certain kind of death, death of energy, death of fluidity, death of physical legacies and connections... the list goes on. Thus, a big problem. But avant may not be so easy to see or to define--it resists, is by definition, then, action: a verb not a noun! And that is the point--not so much to capitalize on resistance-as would modernism, as to emphasize how resistance occurs: the avant is resistant because it questions. Continually. If the SoQ resists anything, it is question in and of itself. Therefore, to keep poetry alive and well, avant is most desirable since poetry is meant to be physical, _lively_ (or, _soundy_, as in Jordan Davis' millions! millions!) and to be a continual kind of larger, cultural questioning.
*Having never communicated directly with Ron Silliman, I will refer to him as Mr. Silliman.
**The same goes for Chris Lott. I do not know him, so have referred to him as Mr. Lott.
chris at
11:29 PM
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Tornado Alley Countdown Love: 99
Love cloud-to-cloud
overdrama as in
do not bother
with ohing wooden
buttons tiny
gazebos
of talk or science
enclosed violet
lattice work rose & slick
concrete--
flow--rainshower
skin & lingual
Chris Murray Tornado Alley Series
chris at
2:39 AM
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Another reason to Recall Billyness:
When Jordan Davis cracks an egg, millions of soundy things grab their bags and fall in line...
www.millionpoems.blogspot.com
chris at
1:54 AM
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Friday, June 13, 2003
Ha! Banner at Tympan.blogspot.com: *Recall* Billy Collins!
YaY: another place for no more Billyness,
thanks to Tim Yu!
chris at
2:28 PM
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Latest breaking news: compose some Hay(na)ku poems for the contest at Eileen Tabios' blog, winepoetics. Extra-fine prizes being offered, as in BOOKS!
chris at
8:56 AM
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Happy Philippine Independence Day to Eileen Tabios and all the !!GREAT POETS!! who have posted poems to Eileen's blog.. Hop over there to enjoy some Hay(na)ku Poems:
www.winepoetics.blogspot.com
chris at
2:13 AM
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Thursday, June 12, 2003
Yours truly: Happy me in a photo up at Jim's!
Couldn't get the scanner to work right at my office so went over to Kinko's to get it scanned and sent. That's Kinko's--not kinky's :)
It 's a favorite picture, and there aren't many of me around here since I'm usually the one taking the pictures.
Check it out:
www.jism.blogspot.com
chris at
5:23 PM
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This is all part of my plan to learn Googlese so I can translate blogspot searches more effectively. See below: Google needs help, but I'm happy if one of my fundamental elements is "+ wave" yes... plus wave, as in the action, waving (see photo at Jim B's) or wave: those motions essential to and governing the flow of being...
chris at
1:48 AM
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I'm going to try writing a letter to Rutger Hauer.
I want to see if he'll consider being, at the very least, a poetic mascot, if not a candidate for Poet Laureate.
Really. Who knows?--Maybe he's got a secret poem stowed away in a diary somewhere... hmmm...
chris at
1:21 AM
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News on the Recall Billy Collins Campaign:
Possible motto: Everything *is* the way it seems.
Hey, all you Poet Laureate voters, how about this: look, Schwartzennegger (did you know that Arnold's is a name that requires a new spelling every time it is typed?) gets all the big roles. It's really not fair. Remember how much pathos Rutger Hauer put into those dying poetic lines of his in Blade Runner? I'm thinking he'd make a good run for the money in the Poet Laureate primaries, anyway. Whaddya say? GO RUTGER HAUER!! Keep rockin' those poetic lines!!!
chris at
1:18 AM
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Touchy Feely Car Alarm:
It's raining here; earlier this evening it felt like tornados could happen at any moment. (Herb Levy! please tell me:--is this typical of mid-June?)
Someone's car out in the parking lot outside my place has one of those old, really polite and touchy feely car alarms. Every time a big plop of rain falls on the car it says "You are too close to the vehicle--**please** [con mucho gusto] move away."--and I'm thinking, would that I could. But I am not quite done with Texas yet.
The best, tho, was earlier when there was a lot of lightning and thunder. The polite car alarm voice kept repeating, "Help. I was tampered with. Squeal-squeal-blurt-blam! Call the police. Help. I was tampered with... squeal-squeal-blurt-blamm! "
This car alarm situation doesn't even rate comparison with old flicks uselessly critical of useless technologies, ya kno? **Help. This car is a mutant dinosaur. Squeal-squeal-blurt-blamm. Help. Please call Rutger Hauer...**
chris at
12:53 AM
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If you are getting hungry and would like to try out some very nice recipes, check out
www.candyboots.com
chris at
12:43 AM
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Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Google search yielding Texfiles as choice number 3:
mad + hatter + wave + files
Um... Google's certainly got its logic down pat ...
But YEAH!!!! We *are* lovin' to rrrrrrrriiiide that [uh-huh] WWWWWWWWWWWWaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave, tho.
chris at
8:10 PM
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Mostly the academic intros to authors are big adenoidal vibratory material. But hey--have faith!--someone at Norton is bumping around in the Rhetorica of mass appeal! Of course, they have to be very hush, low-key-subtle about it--can't really let on that pop culture has far more impact (maybe think eminem when you think satire, on poetrylist?) on audience than they ever will.
So they're a little Frankenstein in the nascence of it, but being so very sveldt lately when introducing Am-lit's canon of stars: not only have they positioned Frederick Douglass' texts right between those 2 other lit-cult-sexy (in some folks' opinions...) figures, Thoreau and Whitman (as opposed to being sandwiched between Mark Twain and Charlotte Perkins Gilman: there might be a little dissonance there) which gives Douglass an extra shot of cultural capital, they make him out to sound as if he's positively the (pick one:) Jim Carey, Sean Connery, Busta Rimes, **Jim Behrle** (YaY!!!complete with birthday party hat) or Buffy the Vampire Slayer of his day:
"There is ample evidence to support the view that Douglass was a powerful speaker. One of his admirers described him thus:
**He was more than six feet in height, and his majestic form, as he rose to speak, straight as an arrow, muscular, yet lithe and graceful, his flashing eye, and more than all, his voice, that rivaled [Daniel] Webster's in its richness, and in the depth and sonorousness of its cadences, made up such an ideal of an orator as the listeners never forgot.** Surely, no one in Rochester, New York [Yay!!! my first hometown: home of Kodak irradiated rivers!!], who heard Douglass's speech "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" on July 5, 1852, was likely to have forgotten what his biographer William S. McFeely has characterized judiciously as "perhaps the greatest antislavery oration ever given." --Norton's Am Lit, 6th Ed. (2031)
Um, *surely* here is academic-speak for making Douglass something of an *Aaaallllllllllrrrriiiiiiiiiiiightteeeeeee, THEN*
chris at
11:06 AM
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well Blogger just zapped me. I had a long post explaining some things about my problem with Billyness, but Blogger ate it. Just go check out the archives at wom-po list for yesterday and today. Start with a post by Marilyn Hacker, then some from me and some others, including Alicia Ostriker, who seemed displeased with something I said about Alexander Pope. And Katha Pollit posted something about the Poet's Corner that Wheatley is being considered for. I'm swearing off listservs for a while. They're becoming very draining. I really don't give a rat's ass about Pope. But Billy Collins in his capacity as Poet Laureate shouldn't be shooting his mouth off dissing Phillis Wheatley, either. He said her work is like something from a student out of Pope's workshop. Whatever that means.
chris at
2:50 AM
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My anthem in sympathy with the complexities of being a poet laureate: clowns to the left of me, jokers to right: here I am, stuck in the middle with you: everything *is* the way it seems...
chris at
1:16 AM
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Tympan.blogspot.com, Hey! Thanks--yes, we're taking up a collection here to purchase new puppet-poet-laureates, preferably with strings for better coordination and operation. Billy Collins has once again fallen down on the job, looking like he has no backbone or clue at all. Pity--his poetry is so yawny around the room, yah. And when he takes off Emily Dickinson's clothes we can't wait to hear what he'll find, much less what he's looking for. Probably just more chocolate chip cookies. You know how she is about that: latest gossip is, she'll lower her basket of cookies to anyone. Don't you all just love poet gossip? How about those Phillis Wheatley stories: what's good for Thomas Jefferson is good for Billy, too: if they say Wheatley's poetry is middling, then it must be so, right?
chris at
1:11 AM
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Tuesday, June 10, 2003
"Celestial choir!" How about a little extreme choir?
Phillis Wheatley:
"Improve your privileges while they stay,
Ye pupils, and each hour redeem, that bears
Or good or bad report of you to Heav'n.
...Suppress the deadly serpent in its egg.
Ye blooming plants of human race divine,
An Ethiop tells you tis your greatest foe...
chris at
3:46 PM
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So, what's the problem?--no one around here wants any Billyness?
chris at
3:36 PM
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Instead of that old TV show (why don't they show this one on rerun anymore??), Queen for a Day, where housewives got to compete to see who had the most Queeniness, can we have a chance to play Billy Collins for a Day?--to see who has the most Billyness?
chris at
1:27 AM
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Unless You Are Spoken
Here is nighttime again
with it's two ts cozying
up between night & time,
clamoring as will any
bent syntax to be listened for
in a nook of light or to be light--
where all in a day you're reminded
of Salem & bergamot, of My Lai
& burning bodies in rainbow,
the book of rainbow,
the bettas of rainbow
in black & blue performing
all possible womb-like words,
facing one another in separte globes,
cutting & spooked as hell
to spool out the bodies & stories
of floating lives, jars overfull
of diced whys spiced lightly
of tarragon leaves floating chill
in the unopened, sleek necks
of the vinegar stores, the vinegar
a potential, a stinging of all wounds,
bitter in consonant & tiny end hook: t,
going about its business,
squared off, jangling its speaking
rules & rings of house keys,
telling the Nicaraguan
housemaid: yes, hospital
corners, there & don't speak
unless you are spoken
to. To.
chris murray
chris at
1:12 AM
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Monday, June 09, 2003
hasta
bruhahahahaha,
nighttime!
chris at
4:56 PM
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Dear Deity,
why is so much that matters governed by mediocrity?
thanks for your speedy reply,
chris
chris at
4:55 PM
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Can we vote Billy Collins out of office the same way we can vote George B out? --or is it sort of the same problem: most people's votes don't get counted or just plain don't count at all...
sigh
chris at
4:54 PM
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Congrats to Chris Daniels: I see on David Hess' blog, Heathens in Heat, that Kent Johnson has raved on the UBUweb list about Chris Daniels' translation of Joseley V Baptista's poetry. Big congratulations to Chris D who works really hard to get everything just right. Happy success, Chris!
chris at
4:52 PM
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The students were really on it today. Anne Bradstreet: they wrote the book. Then, Cotton Mather, that old coot. "The Wonders of the Invisible World, " & "A People of God in the Devil's Territories," indeed. How about a little fungus in the rye, eh, Salem? Love that Nova special. Students rocked today. Introduced Phillis Wheatley to get ready for tomorrow. Then came back here to my office to check email and found an interesting message from the Wom-po list: Billy Collins disses Phillis Wheatley. How much cleverness does that take? She's only 2+ centuries dead. More on that tonight, folks.
chris at
4:48 PM
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Hmmm... Today's poetry news: Billy Collins says, in effect, that Phillis Wheatley's poetry is not worthy of commemorating because (in Collins' view) imitative. GRRRRRR
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