I was reading Kent Johnson’s post on John Latta’s Isola di Rifiuti blog this morning when a stray thought zapped flylike through a small tear in the screen of my concentration. The post continues a debate between Johnson and Tony Towle over a famous poem ascribed to Frank O’Hara, but which Johnson speculates may in fact have been an imitation of O’Hara written in homage to the deceased poet by his friend Kenneth Koch. The debate is full of detailed biographical information, from where so-and-so was on July 25, 1963, to exactly what typewriter was used to create a carbon copy of the poem in question. I love this stuff, and it’s one of the reasons I’m looking forward to my copy of Johnson’s new book on the subject.
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But that stray thought! (You thought I’d forget.) It involved “Captain” Ron Silliman, who is an expert in juggling the kind of information we find in the Johnson/Towle debate. (Did Rae Armantrout munch a cruller or a churro while discussing The New Sentence at an outdoor café in Berkeley, Calif. circa 1974? This is the sort of question Silliman is always happy to raise and to answer.) But I suddenly wondered (my stray thought): Who is Ron Silliman? Where are the chatty memoirs about his sense of humor, his sexual pecadillos, his political activities, his ways of making a living, his writing processes, the history of his various manuscripts, where he wrote what and when, etc.? Is it odd that a writer as influential, as (well) gossipy, as Captain Ron seems to exist primarily as a voice in the ether? Oh, I know. He gives readings. Big deal. The man who gives readings could be a shill—a Professor Irwin Corey to a Pynchonesque Silliman.
I am speculating, of course. But it would be fun to hear what friends and foes have to say about the physical Captain Ron, the historical Captain Ron. Or maybe it’s been done and I’ve just missed it. If so, would someone provide some links? I promise I’ll forget the details in a week or so….
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
so..<br />did I tell you<br /><br />about 1963 about just before Kennedy was shot in Texas<br /><br />so<br />me and Ronnie Wilson and Eddie Gold and Rudd Fleming<br />and Howard Nemerov <br />are sitting around in Rudd's office and Ronnie is reading to us some poems he had gotten to the point of a first read..<br /><br />we were having tea<br />and (something…something…<br />something)<
Glad you found some Nemeroviana that pleases you. I have a soft spot for him. He has a wonderful piece called simply <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171411" rel="nofollow">"Writing"</a> that gentles its way into some vertiginous places….
should have read more and paid more attention to…<br />in my UTE!<br /><br />HN's "To Lu Chi"<br /><br />(in his 1960 'new and selected poems'<br /><br />just hooked me lines and sinkers!<br /><br />then<br />to his<br /> "Absent-Minded Professor"<br /><br />and off to<br /><br /> "The Town Dump"
You ought to read it. Nemerov is not in your ballpark, maybe not even in your sport (you're, uh … Chinese checkers and Nemerov is, maybe, jai alai). But he was the real thing, I think.
1963 or so<br />I was on the way into The University of Maryland's<br />Student Union building<br /><br />and at the top of the stairs Rudd Fleming and this tall white-haired guy in a black expensive suit<br />smiling were there..<br /><br />Rudd said "High Ed"<br />then he turned to this guy and said "Ed writes."<br /><br />this guy says "I do too."<br />then
As old H. Nemerov put it:<br /><br /><b>A Life</b><br /><br />Innocence? <br />In a sense. <br />In no sense! <br /><br /><i>Was</i> that it? <br />Was <i>that</i> it? <br />Was that <i>it</i>? <br /><br />That was it.
JOE pull-lease<br /><br />I'll tell the jokes!<br /><br />… say, I was just thinking:<br /><br />are we famous yet?<br />or is this<br />all there is?<br /><br /><br />and<br />do tell me your take on<br /><br />how come the gal/girl/lady/female 'poets'<br /> stick to themselves?<br /><br />I just don't "get it" my last muse up and died on me<br /> first she
What?! Not PEEPO?
say hey Joe..<br />you asked for a link?<br />well… enough about Ron<br />let's talk about me!<br /><br />here is a link:<br /><br />http://www.newmystics.com/lit/EdBaker.html<br /><br /><br />furthermore when I write I write<br />and when I piss I piss<br />but I never piss when I write or<br />write when I piss<br /><br />I have been known to piss in the snow<br />and call a poem<br /><
Steve,<br /><br />I hope you'll read my response to Towle at Latta's. It went up yesterday. As I point out, there is plenty of room left for speculation after Towle's latest. Most of his essay, which you seem impressed by, is actually totally irrelevant to the case, but something he says there could be seen as opening up new possibilities for the *hypothesis* I've presented.<br />
I may be weird, but I'm not sure if I care whether Kent is right or not. In the long run—the long run you mention in relation to Silliman—we have the poem. O'Hara will be even more of a footnote than Koch is now, not because he isn't a wonderful poet but because poetry will be read by even fewer people than it is today, and the disputes we all (let's be honest) enjoy will be
Dear Joseph, <br /><br />More power to you for reading the upcoming book, and knock yourself out doing it, but the Towle essay by any reasonable measure leaves about zero room for the other side of the "debate." <br /><br />And Kent Johnson — I name names, sorry — can't have much credibility after his recent inane claim about the Eliot Weinberger line in Silliman's <i>The
Ah, Bill … there <i>is</i> that question of "great"! I'm no great fan of Koch's poetry, but am willing to entertain the notion that he rose to the occasion once—by suppressing his own poetic habits as much as he could, of course.<br /><br />But (addressing Kent now), I can't begin to judge the issue until I see your book. If nothing else it promises to be great (that word
Thanks for mentioning the exchange, Joseph, and the book forthcoming.<br /><br />I've got some reminiscences about Ron from the time we were together in the USSR. But that was a long time ago, so it probably wouldn't apply. I thought we got along fine, but apparently not, judging from the memoir he co-wrote shortly after that trip.<br /><br />Kent
I won't believe Koch wrote it because it's a great poem, <br /><br />and Koch never wrote any great poems,<br /><br />whereas O'Hara wrote many—