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A Blogger’s Notebook 2
THE THINGS THAT CARRIED THEM Mother.Cradle. Basinette. Crib.Shoulders. Snugli. Stroller. Car seat.Pull sled. Saucer. Double-bladed ice skates.Tricycle. Pedal car. Roller skates. Scooter.Training-wheel bicycle. Skateboard. Ten speed.Monkey bars. Merry-go-round. Swing set. Slide. Cottonwood treehouse. Willow-branch swing.Bumper car. Paddle boat. Ferris wheel. Flying Eagle.Carousel. Roller coaster. Tilt-a-Whirl. Scrambler.Rubber raft. Rowboat. Aluminum canoe.Skateboard. Ten speed. Snowboard. Skis.Mini bike. City bus. Daddy’s car. Beater car.Chevrolet. Volkwagen. Datsun. Subaru.SUV. ATV. Crotch Rocket. Chopper.Sailboat. Bass boat. Bowrider. Jet Ski.Parasail. Parachute. Hot air balloon.Helicopter. Gulfstream. Seven-forty-seven.Booster rocket. Space Shuttle. SpaceShipOne.U2. F-15. B-1B. C-130.Stretcher. Gurney. Wheelchair. Crutches.Stretcher. Gurney. Body bag. Coffin.Coffin. Coffin. Coffin.Earth.Read More
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A Mysterious Deference
This from a recent BookForum column by Paris Review managing editor Radhika Jones on one of the leading lights of UbuWeb, the so-called avant-garde archive: [Kenneth Goldsmith’s] position on writing is as follows: Modernism and postmodernism are over, and the literary arts have entered a new technology-driven paradigm. Originality is out the window. “Writers don’t need to write anything more,” he says.Read More
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On Poetic Values
Over on the Harriet blog, Kenneth Goldsmith posted an account of a keynote address by Marjorie Perloff at the recent Conceptual Poetry Conference in Tucson. It’s well worth reading, although it offers up a point of view I disagree with. Here is the response I posted a short while ago: I’m an admirer of Ms. Perloff and am a little reluctant to criticize her based on Kenneth’s summary, but if his characterization is accurate, I have to take issue with her logic.Read More
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The Openness of A. R. Ammons
Thanks to the link provided in Don Share’s post on Harriet, which discusses A. R. Ammons as “the great prosodic centrist of American poetry” (and no, Share isn’t using “centrist” in its usual sense), I found myself reading Stephen Burt’s incisive essay on Ammons, entitled “Naive Melody.” I would have preferred “native” to “naive” in describing Ammons, who in my estimation ranks among the greatest mid-20th century American poets. Of course, Burt uses the word in a special sense that does help define what sets Ammons apart.Read More
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Spontaneous Allen
Dig it. A tantalizing excerpt from a Village Voice interview with Allen Ginsberg, published October 15, 1958. Ginsberg was 32 at the time.Read More
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Adios, George Garrett
“George Garrett, 78, the author of more than 30 books of fiction, poetry, biography and criticism … died May 26 at his home in Charlottesville.”Read More
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Knott’s Basho Gives You Get-Up-And-Go
Bill Knott’s various visits to Bashō’s pond are about as entertaining as poetry gets.Read More
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Traveling from Delight to Wisdom with Art Goodtimes
NOTE: This review appeared in the March/April 2008 Issue of The Bloomsbury Review. ©2008 by Joseph Hutchison. As If the World Really Mattered Poems by Art Goodtimes 128 pages, paper ISBN-13: 978-1-888809-49-7 ISBN-10: 1-888809-49-3 La Alameda Press 9636 Guadalupe Trail NW Albuquerque, NM 87114 Poetry is not a democratic art. It is not a product of the demos, that is, but the fruit of solitary labor—though honed, in some cases, by public performance. It is idiosyncratic, suffering in committee and dissenting—sometimes loudly, sometimes sotto voce—from every parade.Read More
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A Note on Paul Blackburn (and Swiss cheese)
For some reason certain links from my response to Ted Burke’s recent blog entry on Paul Blackburn vanished when I posted it, creating what you might call a Swiss-cheese post. So I’m posting it here in all its glory—i.e., with links intact. You can find the Blackburn poem I’m referring to, in its correct format, here. As Burke notes in his post, he didn’t reproduce Blackburn’s original spatial presentation…. *** I wonder if anyone reading this poem would seek out more of Blackburn’s work. For me it’s too studied, a fairly pedestrian attempt at allegory.Read More
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A Blogger’s Notebook 1
WHY I SHOULD NEVER DRINK Last night I fumbled for my lovepoem’s bra-latch while kissingeach feminine rhyme, each enjambedsyllable drenched in my whiskied breath,when suddenly my nightmare zipperpopped, and what should pokeout but a rifle barrel? Somethinghigh caliber—something automatic.Just then the title of my next red-facedrant came to me: “Power Politicsand the Death of Pleasure.”Read More