-
Vanessa Sells Out
Let me see: what could I lay before you to concretize the acedia that characterizes Conceptual writing? Well, how about this: Yes, as trumpeted by both conceptualist “author” Vanessa Place and her dopey-eyed peeps at Harriet, Place’s … well, what it is? a “book”? a “work of art”? … let’s just say “latest release” (such as one might enjoy some onanistic evening while pondering the idea of a canvas Duchamp had sense enough never to paint: “Nude Barthes Descending Staircase”)…; to reprise mid-sentence, Vanessa Place, lawyer and con-woman, managed to “sell out” (are we surprised?) this work (is it fair to…Read More
-
In Praise of Intention
Imagine you’re strolling past the bus station in downtown Eugene, Oregon. (Never been to Eugene? Doesn’t matter.) You glimpse something on the ground in a shadowed area near a public trash receptacle and veer toward it for a look. An oblong something, larger than a cell phone, but not readily identifiable. You bend and pick it up. A device of some kind, with a mostly black plastic shell; there are several half-worn-off letters on the shell: GLATSKI.Read More
-
Dissenting from “The Debate”
I jumped into Seth Abramson’s attempt to formulate new terms for what he sees as distinct types of poetry in the current American litscape—alternatives to “School of Quietude” and “Post-Avant,” the numbing dualism favored by so-called language poet Ron Silliman.Read More
-
Bacterio-Textual Flagellation
In Chapter 104 of Moby-Dick, Herman Melville puts these words into Ishmael’s mouth—but surely the sentiment is his own: In the mere act of penning my thoughts of this Leviathan, they weary me, and make me faint with the outreaching comprehensiveness of sweep, as if to include the whole circle of the sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, present, and to come, with all the revolving panoramas of empire on earth, and throughout the whole universe, not excluding its suburbs.Read More
-
Buddhism, Darwinism, Avant-Garde
In an earlier post I gave myself permission to post fragments. So here goes…. ===== I’ve been reading the new book by my favorite philosopher, Buddhist thinker David R. Loy. Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution pulls together shorter pieces written for magazines, and the venue seems to have encouraged great concentration and great simplicity in Loy, who is typically (anyway) capable of moving from the just-shy-of-obscure to flashes of brilliance with ease.Read More
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. 
