<!DOCTYPE html>
<html dir='ltr' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml' xmlns:b='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/b' xmlns:data='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/data' xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>
<head>
<link href='https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/widgets/2549344219-widget_css_bundle.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>
<meta content='text/html; charset=UTF-8' http-equiv='Content-Type'/>
<meta content='blogger' name='generator'/>
<link href='https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/favicon.ico' rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>
<link href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' rel='canonical'/>
<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Silliman&#39;s Blog - Atom" href="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Silliman&#39;s Blog - RSS" href="https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss" />
<link rel="service.post" type="application/atom+xml" title="Silliman&#39;s Blog - Atom" href="https://www.blogger.com/feeds/3738579/posts/default" />
<!--Can't find substitution for tag [blog.ieCssRetrofitLinks]-->
<meta content='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' property='og:url'/>
<meta content='Silliman&#39;s Blog' property='og:title'/>
<meta content='A weblog focused on contemporary poetry and poetics.' property='og:description'/>
<!--[if IE]> <script> (function() { var html5 = ("abbr,article,aside,audio,canvas,datalist,details," + "figure,footer,header,hgroup,mark,menu,meter,nav,output," + "progress,section,time,video").split(','); for (var i = 0; i < html5.length; i++) { document.createElement(html5[i]); } try { document.execCommand('BackgroundImageCache', false, true); } catch(e) {} })(); </script> <![endif]-->
<title>Silliman's Blog: Steve Benson</title>
<style id='page-skin-1' type='text/css'><!--
/*
* Blogger Template Style
*
* Sand Dollar
* by Jason Sutter
* Updated by Blogger Team
*/
/* Variable definitions
====================
<Variable name="textcolor" description="Text Color"
type="color" default="#000">
<Variable name="bgcolor" description="Page Background Color"
type="color" default="#f6f6f6">
<Variable name="pagetitlecolor" description="Blog Title Color"
type="color" default="#F5DEB3">
<Variable name="pagetitlebgcolor" description="Blog Title Background Color"
type="color" default="#DE7008">
<Variable name="descriptionColor" description="Blog Description Color"
type="color" default="#9E5205" />
<Variable name="descbgcolor" description="Description Background Color"
type="color" default="#F5E39e">
<Variable name="titlecolor" description="Post Title Color"
type="color" default="#9E5205">
<Variable name="datecolor" description="Date Header Color"
type="color" default="#777777">
<Variable name="footercolor" description="Post Footer Color"
type="color" default="#444444">
<Variable name="linkcolor" description="Link Color"
type="color" default="#DE7008">
<Variable name="footerlinkcolor" description="Post Footer Link Color"
type="color" default="#968a0a">
<Variable name="visitedlinkcolor" description="Visited Link Color"
type="color" default="#DE7008">
<Variable name="sidebarcolor" description="Sidebar Title Color"
type="color" default="#B8A80D">
<Variable name="sidebarlinkcolor" description="Sidebar Link Color"
type="color" default="#999999">
<Variable name="bordercolor" description="Border Color"
type="color" default="#e0ad12">
<Variable name="bodyfont" description="Text Font"
type="font"
default="normal normal 100% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-Serif">
<Variable name="headerfont" description="Sidebar Title Font"
type="font"
default="normal bold 150% Verdana,Sans-serif">
<Variable name="dateHeaderFont" description="Date Header Font"
type="font"
default="normal bold 105% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif">
<Variable name="pagetitlefont" description="Blog Title Font"
type="font" default="normal bold 300% Verdana,Sans-Serif">
<Variable name="titlefont" description="Post Title Font"
type="font" default="normal bold 160% Verdana,Sans-Serif">
<Variable name="startSide" description="Start side in blog language"
type="automatic" default="left">
<Variable name="endSide" description="End side in blog language"
type="automatic" default="right">
*/
body {
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
background:#ffffff;
color:#000000;
font-size: small;
}
#outer-wrapper {
font:normal normal 12px Arial, sans-serif;
}
a {
color:#666666;
}
a:hover {
color:#9E5205;
}
a img {
border-width: 0;
}
#content-wrapper {
padding-top: 0;
padding-right: 1em;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-left: 1em;
}
@media all  {
div#main {
float:right;
width:66%;
padding-top:30px;
padding-right:0;
padding-bottom:10px;
padding-left:1em;
border-left:dotted 1px #e0ad12;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden;     /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}
div#sidebar {
margin-top:20px;
margin-right:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0;
padding:0px;
text-align:left;
float: left;
width: 31%;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden;     /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}
}
@media handheld  {
div#main {
float:none;
width:90%;
}
div#sidebar {
padding-top:30px;
padding-right:7%;
padding-bottom:10px;
padding-left:3%;
}
}
#header {
padding-top:0px;
padding-right:0px;
padding-bottom:0px;
padding-left:0px;
margin-top:0px;
margin-right:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;
border-bottom:dotted 1px #e0ad12;
background:#000000;
}
h1 a:link  {
text-decoration:none;
color:#ffffff
}
h1 a:visited  {
text-decoration:none;
color:#ffffff
}
h1,h2,h3 {
margin: 0;
}
h1 {
padding-top:25px;
padding-right:0px;
padding-bottom:10px;
padding-left:5%;
color:#ffffff;
background:#940f04;
font:normal bold 80px Verdana,Sans-Serif;
letter-spacing:-2px;
}
h3.post-title {
color:#9E5205;
font:normal bold 150% Arial, sans-serif;
letter-spacing:-1px;
}
h3.post-title a,
h3.post-title a:visited {
color: #9E5205;
}
h2.date-header  {
margin-top:10px;
margin-right:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;
color:#ffffff;
font: normal bold 104% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,Sans-serif;
}
h4 {
color:#aa0033;
}
#sidebar h2 {
color:#cc0000;
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
font:normal bold 120% Arial, sans-serif;
}
#sidebar .widget {
margin-top:0px;
margin-right:0px;
margin-bottom:33px;
margin-left:0px;
padding-top:0px;
padding-right:0px;
padding-bottom:0px;
padding-left:0px;
font-size:120%;
}
#sidebar ul {
list-style-type:none;
padding-left: 0;
margin-top: 0;
}
#sidebar li {
margin-top:0px;
margin-right:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
margin-left:0px;
padding-top:0px;
padding-right:0px;
padding-bottom:0px;
padding-left:0px;
list-style-type:none;
font-size:95%;
}
.description {
padding:0px;
margin-top:7px;
margin-right:12%;
margin-bottom:7px;
margin-left:5%;
color:#cc0000;
background:transparent;
font:bold 100% Verdana,Sans-Serif;
}
.post {
margin-top:0px;
margin-right:0px;
margin-bottom:30px;
margin-left:0px;
}
.post strong {
color:#000000;
font-weight:bold;
}
pre,code {
color:#000000;
}
strike {
color:#000000;
}
.post-footer  {
padding:0px;
margin:0px;
color:#ffffff;
font-size:80%;
}
.post-footer a {
border:none;
color:#968a0a;
text-decoration:none;
}
.post-footer a:hover {
text-decoration:underline;
}
#comments {
padding:0px;
font-size:110%;
font-weight:bold;
}
.comment-author {
margin-top: 10px;
}
.comment-body {
font-size:100%;
font-weight:normal;
color:black;
}
.comment-footer {
padding-bottom:20px;
color:#ffffff;
font-size:80%;
font-weight:normal;
display:inline;
margin-right:10px
}
.deleted-comment  {
font-style:italic;
color:gray;
}
.comment-link  {
margin-left:.6em;
}
.profile-textblock {
clear: both;
margin-left: 0;
}
.profile-img {
float: left;
margin-top: 0;
margin-right: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
margin-left: 0;
border: 2px solid #940f04;
}
#sidebar a:link  {
color:#000000;
text-decoration:none;
}
#sidebar a:active  {
color:#ff0000;
text-decoration:none;
}
#sidebar a:visited  {
color:sidebarlinkcolor;
text-decoration:none;
}
#sidebar a:hover {
color:#cc0000;
text-decoration:none;
}
.feed-links {
clear: both;
line-height: 2.5em;
}
#blog-pager-newer-link {
float: left;
}
#blog-pager-older-link {
float: right;
}
#blog-pager {
text-align: center;
}
.clear {
clear: both;
}
.widget-content {
margin-top: 0.5em;
}
/** Tweaks for layout editor preview */
body#layout #outer-wrapper {
margin-top: 0;
}
body#layout #main,
body#layout #sidebar {
margin-top: 10px;
padding-top: 0;
}

--></style>
<link href='https://www.blogger.com/dyn-css/authorization.css?targetBlogID=3738579&amp;zx=a1164a5b-94f7-434c-afab-b49aa5a29e3f' media='none' onload='if(media!=&#39;all&#39;)media=&#39;all&#39;' rel='stylesheet'/><noscript><link href='https://www.blogger.com/dyn-css/authorization.css?targetBlogID=3738579&amp;zx=a1164a5b-94f7-434c-afab-b49aa5a29e3f' rel='stylesheet'/></noscript>

</head>
<body>
<div class='navbar section' id='navbar'><div class='widget Navbar' data-version='1' id='Navbar1'><script type="text/javascript">
    function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) {
      if(window.addEventListener) {
        window.addEventListener('load',
          function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false);
      } else {
        window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; });
      }
    }
  </script>
<div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
      gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() {
        if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) {
          gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({
              url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d3738579\x26blogName\x3dSilliman\x27s+Blog\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLUE\x26layoutType\x3dLAYOUTS\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttps://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-6983219020609693114',
              where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"),
              id: "navbar-iframe"
          });
        }
      });
    </script><script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.type = 'text/javascript';
script.src = '//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/google_top_exp.js';
var head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0];
if (head) {
head.appendChild(script);
}})();
</script>
</div></div>
<div id='outer-wrapper'><div id='wrap2'>
<!-- skip links for text browsers -->
<span id='skiplinks' style='display:none;'>
<a href='#main'>skip to main </a> |
      <a href='#sidebar'>skip to sidebar</a>
</span>
<div id='header-wrapper'>
<div class='header section' id='header'><div class='widget Header' data-version='1' id='Header1'>
<div id='header-inner'>
<div class='titlewrapper'>
<h1 class='title'>
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/'>
Silliman's Blog
</a>
</h1>
</div>
<div class='descriptionwrapper'>
<p class='description'><span>A weblog focused on contemporary poetry and poetics.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div id='content-wrapper'>
<div id='crosscol-wrapper' style='text-align:center'>
<div class='crosscol no-items section' id='crosscol'></div>
</div>
<div id='main-wrapper'>
<div class='main section' id='main'><div class='widget Blog' data-version='1' id='Blog1'>
<div class='blog-posts hfeed'>
<div class='status-msg-wrap'>
<div class='status-msg-body'>
Showing posts with label <b>Steve Benson</b>. <a href="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a>
</div>
<div class='status-msg-border'>
<div class='status-msg-bg'>
<div class='status-msg-hidden'>Showing posts with label <b>Steve Benson</b>. <a href="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>

          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, December 29, 2014</span></h2>

          <div class="date-posts">
        
<div class='post-outer'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'>
<meta content='3738579' itemprop='blogId'/>
<meta content='7232615448432017504' itemprop='postId'/>
<a name='7232615448432017504'></a>
<div class='post-header'>
<div class='post-header-line-1'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-7232615448432017504' itemprop='description articleBody'>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="388" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/109398515" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe><br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"><a href="http://www.stevebensonasis.com/"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Steve</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Benson_(poet)"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Benson</span></a><br />
<br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">reading
@ Segue<br />
<br />
<br />
2013</span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;"><br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer'>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>
<span class='post-author vcard'>
Posted by
<span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'>
<span itemprop='name'>Ron</span>
</span>
</span>
<span class='post-timestamp'>
at
<meta content='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-post_29.html' itemprop='url'/>
<a class='timestamp-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2014/12/blog-post_29.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2014-12-29T00:00:00-05:00'>Monday, December 29, 2014</abbr></a>
</span>
<span class='reaction-buttons'>
</span>
<span class='post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-backlinks post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-icons'>
<span class='item-action'>
<a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=3738579&postID=7232615448432017504' title='Email Post'>
<img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'>
</div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>
<span class='post-labels'>
Labels:
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Readings' rel='tag'>Readings</a>,
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' rel='tag'>Steve Benson</a>
</span>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>
<span class='post-location'>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

          </div></div>
        

          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, December 24, 2011</span></h2>

          <div class="date-posts">
        
<div class='post-outer'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'>
<meta content='http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6481947191_1be1121cc1_o.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/>
<meta content='3738579' itemprop='blogId'/>
<meta content='2709547723682047448' itemprop='postId'/>
<a name='2709547723682047448'></a>
<div class='post-header'>
<div class='post-header-line-1'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-2709547723682047448' itemprop='description articleBody'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6481947191_1be1121cc1_o.jpg"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-no-proof:yes;text-decoration:none; text-underline:none'><img border="0" height="432" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/PIA2rFMk2LQcdZizxcqgOLmHVLYWQRHWjEnrK6d3M2bD05q1RakTHstHWndlSs96XHnDdAwtepsunobd0AdxAsmMrmliQWQ9mYI6LMp06m5cug%3Ds0-d" width="540"></span></a><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'><br> </span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt; line-height:115%;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>(<span class=GramE>photo</span> by Jude Ornstein)</span><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight: normal'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black;mso-themecolor: text1'><a href="http://chax.org/eoagh/issuefour/stevebenson.html"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Steve</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Benson_%28poet%29"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Benson</span></a>: 3 works<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'><a href="http://www.lavamatic.com/discrete/pastevents/benson.htm"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>A long reading in two sets</span></a><br> at <span class=SpellE>EyeMediae</span>, Ann Arbor, mid-<span class=GramE>80s</span><br> </span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt; line-height:115%;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>(Published in </span></i><span style='font-size:8.0pt;line-height:115%;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'><a href="http://bit.ly/vtFRa9"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Blue Books</span></a> <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>as &#8220;Voice Overs&#8221;)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'><a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Benson.php#Hallwalls"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Reading at <span class=SpellE>Hallwalls</span> in Buffalo, 2008</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Erika <span class=SpellE>Staiti&#8217;s</span> <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><a href="http://vimeo.com/29995916"><span style='color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Rice-Paper-<span class=GramE>Moonlight</span></span></a><br> </i></span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt; line-height:115%;color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>(Combining an improvised reading<br> <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>by Benson from 2003,<br> a night-time train ride<br> &amp; the song </span></i><span style='font-size:8.0pt;line-height:115%; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1'>Wow!<br> <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>by Jackie-O Motherfucker)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer'>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>
<span class='post-author vcard'>
Posted by
<span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'>
<span itemprop='name'>Ron</span>
</span>
</span>
<span class='post-timestamp'>
at
<meta content='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2011/12/steve-benson-3-works-long-reading-in.html' itemprop='url'/>
<a class='timestamp-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2011/12/steve-benson-3-works-long-reading-in.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2011-12-24T00:01:00-05:00'>Saturday, December 24, 2011</abbr></a>
</span>
<span class='reaction-buttons'>
</span>
<span class='post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-backlinks post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-icons'>
<span class='item-action'>
<a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=3738579&postID=2709547723682047448' title='Email Post'>
<img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'>
</div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>
<span class='post-labels'>
Labels:
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Readings' rel='tag'>Readings</a>,
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' rel='tag'>Steve Benson</a>
</span>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>
<span class='post-location'>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

          </div></div>
        

          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Wednesday, April 07, 2010</span></h2>

          <div class="date-posts">
        
<div class='post-outer'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'>
<meta content='3738579' itemprop='blogId'/>
<meta content='6761231345593989024' itemprop='postId'/>
<a name='6761231345593989024'></a>
<div class='post-header'>
<div class='post-header-line-1'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-6761231345593989024' itemprop='description articleBody'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><embed src="//media.sas.upenn.edu/sample.mov" href="rtsp://media.sas.upenn.edu:555/pennsound/authors/Benson/Benson-Steve_Complete-Reading_Medium-and-Margin-conference-Berkeley_03-14-2009.mov" target="quicktimeplayer" width="480" height="376" scale="aspect" bgcolor="#afc964" qtsrc="rtsp://media.sas.upenn.edu:555/pennsound/authors/Benson/Benson-Steve_Complete-Reading_Medium-and-Margin-conference-Berkeley_03-14-2009.mov" autoplay="false" controller="true" pluginspage="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/"></embed></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Steve Benson&#8217;s reading / performance<br> at the Medium &amp; Margin Conference in Berkeley<span style='color:#0D0D0D; mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242'><a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/?watch=pennsound/authors/Benson/Benson-Steve_Complete-Reading_Medium-and-Margin-conference-Berkeley_03-14-2009.mov"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242'>Click here</span></a> if you have problems viewing this<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242'><a href="http://www.critiphoria.org/Issue2/Steve_Benson_Issue2.pdf"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242'>Steve&#8217;s text, a note on his project<br> &amp; the conference proposal</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer'>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>
<span class='post-author vcard'>
Posted by
<span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'>
<span itemprop='name'>Ron</span>
</span>
</span>
<span class='post-timestamp'>
at
<meta content='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2010/04/steve-bensons-reading-performance-at.html' itemprop='url'/>
<a class='timestamp-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2010/04/steve-bensons-reading-performance-at.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2010-04-07T00:01:00-04:00'>Wednesday, April 07, 2010</abbr></a>
</span>
<span class='reaction-buttons'>
</span>
<span class='post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-backlinks post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-icons'>
<span class='item-action'>
<a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=3738579&postID=6761231345593989024' title='Email Post'>
<img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'>
</div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>
<span class='post-labels'>
Labels:
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' rel='tag'>Steve Benson</a>
</span>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>
<span class='post-location'>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

          </div></div>
        

          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, September 18, 2006</span></h2>

          <div class="date-posts">
        
<div class='post-outer'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'>
<meta content='http://static.flickr.com/97/243066537_566b820478.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/>
<meta content='3738579' itemprop='blogId'/>
<meta content='115857477788563581' itemprop='postId'/>
<a name='115857477788563581'></a>
<div class='post-header'>
<div class='post-header-line-1'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-115857477788563581' itemprop='description articleBody'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:right'><span style='color:black'><img height="307" id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/FBFu0n-mKNFjwvMeBHGhUol9ssMEV-QmzQYgl4YIjbVeo8Oqb_ohZXO6G_w9Z2mdS9NxM0ChSDNxqS3niaYnX0jwzrPpHz_B%3Ds0-d" width="239"><br>
</span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>photo by Ben Friedlander</span></i><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>When Lyn Hejinian&#8217;s book <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>My Life </i>first was published by Burning Deck in 1980, I couldn&#8217;t read it for a year. Every time I opened it, I found myself staring at the new sentence in as pure a form as I had seen outside of my own <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Ketjak, </i>published two years earlier by This Press, but written four years before that back when This Press editor Barrett Watten &amp; I had shared a flat on San Francisco&#8217;s Potrero Hill. Then, one evening, returning from </span><st1:City><st1:place><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Baltimore</span></st1:place></st1:City><span   style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> to the Bay Area after what may have been my first East Coast reading tour, I opened Lyn&#8217;s volume up on the airplane and read the book cover to cover, stunned at what a wonderful work it was. Whatever impetus Lyn may have gotten from my work, she had taken it in a different direction &amp; accomplished something unbelievably wonderful in the process. While I know that <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>My Life </i>is not her own favorite work &#8211; poets I think must always be focused on what they&#8217;re doing now &amp; what they&#8217;ve done most recently &#8211; I think it&#8217;s no accident that <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>My Life</i>, whether in the 1980 37 years in 37 paragraphs of 37 sentences each version or in the (to my eye, slightly more diffuse) later <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sun &amp; Moon </i>edition, 43 years in 43 paragraphs of 43 sentences each, will always be her defining work for many readers, virtually all of them ardent fans as a result of the experience. <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>My Life </i><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>is deservedly one of the classics of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>I had something of the same experience reading Steve Benson&#8217;s <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><a href="http://www.atelos.org/open.htm"><span style='color:black'>Open Clothes</span></a> </i>this summer. Like <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>My Life&#8217;s </i>relationship to <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Ketjak, </i>the last 83 pages of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Open Clothes </i>consists, with one major exception, of works written entirely in questions, the same device used in my own <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris, </i>first published in <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Roof VII </i>in 1978, and later published in book form by Roof in 1986 as part of its abbreviated version of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Age of Huts</i>&#185;<i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>. </i>To this day, it&#8217;s still the text I&#8217;m mostly like to read from if &amp; when I&#8217;m reading to an audience that I expect will not have much experience with either my work or post-avant writing in general, as when I&#8217;ve read with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hunter_(lyricist)"><span style='color:black'>Robert Hunter</span></a>, whose years as the lyricist for the Grateful Dead brings in a somewhat different crowd than usually shows up at my events. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>All of which means that when I open up <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Open Clothes, </i>the 800-pound gorilla I have to get out of the way in order to read this text is myself. That&#8217;s not an easy process. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>One way is to ask what <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>isn&#8217;t</i> simply the replication of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris, </i>much in the way that I was, on the plane trip, able to see for the first time that Lyn was doing something other (and more) than reduplicating my mode of disjunctive sentences from <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Ketjak. </i>In her case, she turned the language literally in a different direction, away from the phenomenological &amp; obsessively reiterative approach I had used toward her own past. The work was not about perception nearly so much as it was recollection, almost literally. Then there was her formal organization, which was simultaneously elegant &amp; taut.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>The answer as to what isn&#8217;t replication is, as you might have suspected, pretty much everything. To a degree that I can&#8217;t think of in any other book, including for that matter <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>My Life, </i>a comparison of what I&#8217;ll call the question works in <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Open Clothes </i>with <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris </i>demonstrates just how much this structuring of syntax is simply exoskeletal detail &amp; that the real meat of what goes on in poetry &#8211; in language itself, I suppose &#8211; occurs on a deeper level yet. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Benson is first of all an improviser, which means that, at least in some circumstances, he composes his poems in public. He discusses this process twice during <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Open Clothes, </i>once in a series of &#8220;After Notes&#8221; at the back of the book and again in a transcribed Q&amp;A session printed here among the poems. Benson describes some of this process in this paragraph of the &#8220;After Notes&#8221;:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:.5in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>I finally did read in </span><st1:State><st1:place><span   style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>New York</span></st1:place></st1:State><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'> in February 2003, on a bill with Andrew Levy, and my fully improvised performance is transcribed here as &#8220;Did the lights go out.&#8221; It was hard at first, in spite of lots of practice, to keep all the sentences interrogative, but I kept correcting myself as I went along, which is how I improvise &#8211; though usually I have no particular idea what is right. A few days later, I did the same reading again in </span><st1:City><st1:place><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>Philadelphia</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>, transcribed here as &#8220;If you stop to listen to yourself.&#8221; In each event, I thought of the opening line shortly before I stood up to begin, but I had no other lines, strategies, or topics figured out in advance. I did, however, remind myself to move around sometimes. A longer &#8220;process note&#8221; on this reading appears at the website of Kelly Writers House at <a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/visitors/stevebenson.html"><span style='color:black'>http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/visitors/stevebenson.html</span></a>.&#178; &#8220;Is your thinking about the words&#8221; is a verbatim transcript of the public discussion that followed the second reading, with a letter assigned to each speaker from the audience, alphabetically, in order of appearance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>If this sounds potentially awkward, it ought to. Whereas <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris </i>is always, at all points, <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>writing, </i>that is &#8220;the written&#8221; in the classic sense, each sentence plotted out with an eye not only to internal construction but how its juxtaposition is going to enable the reader&#8217;s frame to evolve, Benson&#8217;s improvisations are exercises in ongoing thinking, tentativeness, uncertainty and creative leaps that enable his questions &#8211; often longer and more winding than anything I would come up with &#8211; to complete themselves. If, as Bob Perelman once described my prose work, every sentence is its own short story, many of the questions in Benson&#8217;s <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Open Clothes </i>are cliffhangers. If the price to pay for this is the willingness to seem awkward in performance, Benson has made a great grace of this. When you are actually listening to these pieces, you experience the end of each question &#8211; I want to say &#8220;each question mark&#8221; &#8211; with the thrill of rescue, of survival. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>I was in </span><st1:State><st1:place><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>New York</span></st1:place></st1:State><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> over the weekend and wandered about the </span><st1:City><st1:place><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Chelsea</span></st1:place></st1:City><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> on Saturday looking at the galleries. At the Gagosian, Richard <span class=SpellE>Serra&#8217;s</span> latest show of rusting metallic sculptures has been held over &#8211; now more than a month beyond its original &#8220;pull date.&#8221; These pieces feel heavy &amp; stolid to me &#8211; there is a roomful of slabs and one work, &#8220;Round,&#8221; is a large round cylinder, not one of the giant coils of his last show there (which I thought of at the time as <a href="http://arliquido.blogs.sapo.pt/arquivo/richard%20serra.jpg"><span class=SpellE><span style='color:black'>Serra&#8217;s</span></span></a> <a href="http://www.cinnabon.com/experience/index.html"><span style='color:black'>Cinnabon</span></a> collection), but filled in, like a Jack &amp; the Beanstalk version of the kind of cement guards intended to protect some parts of parking lots (like the entrance to supermarkets) from runaway vehicles. <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris </i>feels heavy to me in much the same way now &#8211; a solid block of text, unrelieved battering of the reader with question after question. Benson doesn&#8217;t feel like this in the slightest. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Partly this is because Benson is questioning himself as much as he does the reader, which frankly is a more confident stance for a poet than the one I was able to take three decades back. When &#8220;you&#8221; appears here, Benson is solicitous, much more than accusatory:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>Do you want a martini?<br> 
Do you want a second martini?<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>It is this same impulse, I think, that leads him to include the discussion with students &amp; other poets from the Writers House event, just as tho it were another improvisation, another poem, in this book. The question for Steve Benson is a fundamentally inclusive, embracing gesture. I have to admit that I don&#8217;t think this is true for <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris, </i>and that my work feels to me now much more about discerning borders &#8211; this is where the writer ends, the reader begins, a continual scratching of a mark in the sand with some anxiety (<i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>What was I so anxious about?</i>) as to who might cross this and how. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Think, for a second, of Benson&#8217;s tone in this piece or segment from &#8220;Open Notebook&#8221;:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:.5in;text-indent:.75in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>Is there any such thing as floating<br>
backwards? How can I tell if my heart is closed?<br>
Will I find a way to open compassion and courage<br>
in knowing and accepting myself? What distracts<br>
me? Did anyone else hear the mist dripping off<br>
the trees this morning? How can our friendship<br>
survive such poverty?<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>There may be other sections, other passages elsewhere in this book, closer in their intent to what I had in mind, but nowhere in <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris </i>is there a space where that passage could have taken place. It would have been a stronger work had there been such a space at that moment in my life, but it wasn&#8217;t to be. I&#8217;m appalled to admit this, but nowhere in <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Age of Huts </i>does the word <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>compassion </i>appear. Talk about having to learn the simplest things last!<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>So I&#8217;m not the right person, obviously, to review <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Open Clothes, </i>but I do want you to know that I think this book is important and powerful, but powerful not because of how Benson exercises or craves power, but rather because of the care with which he heeds power&#8217;s sharp &amp; heavy edges. The result, for me, is a lesson I need to work on personally, perhaps more than it is about what makes for good or great poetry. But I want to thank Steve for the beautiful way he&#8217;s forced me to dance with that 800-lb gorilla in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>&#185; The full suite of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Age of Huts </i>consists of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Ketjak, </i>the three poems in the Roof edition (<i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sunset Debris, The Chinese Notebook </i>and <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>2197</i>) as well as two satellite works, <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Sitting Up, Standing, Taking Steps </i>and <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>BART. </i>In the 1970s, when these works were mostly written,   had not yet gotten to the point where I could get them published in a single volume. They will finally appear together for the first time next year when UC Press publishes <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Age of Huts (compleat). <o:p></o:p></i></span></p> 

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>&#178; A recording of the event in RealAudio format is also available there. PENNsound also has an <a href="http://mediamogul.seas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Benson/Benson-Steve_Segue_NY_2-8-03.mp3"><span style='color:black'>MP3</span></a> of Benson&#8217;s New York event as part of its extensive Segue <a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Series.html"><span style='color:black'>archive</span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer'>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>
<span class='post-author vcard'>
Posted by
<span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'>
<span itemprop='name'>Ron</span>
</span>
</span>
<span class='post-timestamp'>
at
<meta content='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2006/09/photo-by-ben-friedlander-when-lyn.html' itemprop='url'/>
<a class='timestamp-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2006/09/photo-by-ben-friedlander-when-lyn.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2006-09-18T06:10:00-04:00'>Monday, September 18, 2006</abbr></a>
</span>
<span class='reaction-buttons'>
</span>
<span class='post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-backlinks post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-icons'>
<span class='item-action'>
<a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=3738579&postID=115857477788563581' title='Email Post'>
<img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'>
</div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>
<span class='post-labels'>
Labels:
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' rel='tag'>Steve Benson</a>
</span>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>
<span class='post-location'>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

          </div></div>
        

          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, June 24, 2005</span></h2>

          <div class="date-posts">
        
<div class='post-outer'>
<div class='post hentry uncustomized-post-template' itemprop='blogPost' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/BlogPosting'>
<meta content='http://photos15.flickr.com/20923042_ae7cfab8e5.jpg' itemprop='image_url'/>
<meta content='3738579' itemprop='blogId'/>
<meta content='111946312259377669' itemprop='postId'/>
<a name='111946312259377669'></a>
<div class='post-header'>
<div class='post-header-line-1'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-111946312259377669' itemprop='description articleBody'>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'><span style='color:black'><img height="371" id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/x_KbqAH_JaGS7Zagig4eebxbOqFc1N8xiRidLdWKZ0fzo_m3lZwwP1BtCWo75oz2xY7o3JESOhhwnkN7XFVV8hDXDEyR-A%3Ds0-d" width="270"><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>While I may not approve of the idea of having heroes in poetry, I do have a few of my own. One of these is &#8211; and has been for decades &#8211; <a href="http://slought.org/content/11160/"><span style='color:black'>Steve Benson</span></a>. He has all the requisite elements: enormous courage to try new things, unblinking honesty as to what he is doing, a great mind, a gentle soul, and terrific writing chops. That&#8217;s an unbelievably rare combination of &#8220;must-have&#8221; qualities. I&#8217;ve learned an enormous amount from <a href="http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Benson.html"><span style='color:black'>Benson</span></a> in the 30-plus years I&#8217;ve known him, and the careful reader of my work will note pieces &#8211; </span><st1:place><i  style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Paradise</span></i></st1:place><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> </span></i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>in <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Alphabet </i>is one, <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>BART </i>is another &#8211; that could never have been written without his example &amp; inspiration. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>the ball (30 times in 2 days)</span></i></b><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> </span></i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>takes the concept of the micropress right to the level of the <span class=SpellE>nano</span> &#8211; its 4&#188;-by-5&#189; inch pages are simply plain copier paper cut rather roughly in half, stapled twice for binding, the texts appearing on the right-hand side of the page only. No publisher, address or price is listed &amp; I have no idea just how many copies Benson printed &amp; sent out. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>I flip the book open to its center page &amp; read the following:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:1.0in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>If I do this, does that exempt me from<br> 
having to do that? Side effects are numberless<span class=GramE>,</span><br>
I vow to ignore them. In order to focus on the task<br>
at hand, you&#8217;ve got to, uh . . . Just a glance at<br>
the hourly news headlines &#8211; <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>That&#8217;s enough! </i>The<br>
big picture: on the one hand there&#8217;s static, color<br>
distortions, snow, that rolling image effect, more<br>
focus problems, and the nerve-wracking jump<br>
cuts; on the other hand there&#8217;s terror, denial,<br>
numbness, overwhelment, <span class=SpellE>obsessionality</span>,<br>
delirium, rage, and more trouble with the focus<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>This would seem to be &#8211; at once! <span class=GramE>&#8211; both an extremely casual, or at least casual-sounding, text &amp; a remarkably tight one that both comments upon <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>&amp; enacts</i> the mind&#8217;s challenge with focus in a media-driven world.</span> I find myself dazzled at the gem of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>overwhelment, </i>a perfect neologism coming as it does after <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>terror, denial, / numbness. Overwhelment </i>is exactly the right term to pull the text into utter clarity at that particular instant, setting up the remainder of that list perfectly. There is a comedy being enacted here &#8211; all these powerful &amp; negative emotions ultimately have to give way to the problem of focus, whether we mean that word in its &#8220;bang the TV &amp; see if that helps the reception&#8221; or purely internal context. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>I flip to another example, slightly earlier in the sequence:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:1.0in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>That was walking together. I held<br>
you on a leash, and you decided<br>
where we would go and at what<br>
tempo. In five minutes we got about<br>
twenty feet away from where we<br>
started. But I was going to say<span class=GramE>,</span><br>
rather, the discontinuity is at the <br>
beginning. The end <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>is </i>interrupted, <br>
true, but that&#8217;s artificial, arbitrary<span class=GramE>,</span><br>
I mean, or illusory &#8211; I forget why.<br>
Is this convincing? But the initial <br>
entry, getting underway, weighing<br>
anchor, setting pen to paper after not,<br>
shifting frame so radically that one<br>
&#8221;knows oneself to be&#8221; doing that which<br>
one was not before then up to &#8211; that&#8217;s <br>
where an interruption really occurs,<br>
and where confusion and disorder reign,<br>
as idea, act, being, consequence<br>
jockey for position, uncertain of<br>
advantage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span class=GramE><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Again, that absolute balance between the off-the-cuff remark &amp; a high philosophical treatise.</span></span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> Not really since Frank O&#8217;Hara has there been somebody who so completely masters these two levels of discourse simultaneously as seamlessly as does Benson. It&#8217;s a gift &#8211; I  don&#8217;t think it can be learned &amp; so much of what we do learn would seem only to get in its way. I give a big sigh, knowing that this is one skill that I will never have. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>A note at the back explains the project:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:1.0in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black'>Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and<br> 
24, 2005, every hour on the hour,<br>
when my wristwatch alarm sounded,<br>
I wrote five minutes in a brown book<br>
Lyn gave me several years ago, as<br>
well as I could. This is the transcript<span class=GramE>,</span><br>
completed two weeks later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Lyn presumably would be Lyn Hejinian, but that is in fact a presumption. Much of Benson&#8217;s work has always been about attention &amp; one consequence of reading any batch or book of his writing is that the reader&#8217;s (<i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>this </i>reader&#8217;s) own awareness is heightened as a direct result of the process. I love being in the middle of his texts, but when I set them down, I find that even the colors in the room seem brighter, the demarcations between instants more easy to see/hear/feel. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>So far as I can tell, it was Benson who really pioneered the idea of &#8220;the sitting&#8221; &#8211; as in &#8220;write for five minutes&#8221; &#8211; as a unit for poetry. No doubt that is what many poets &#8211; <span class=GramE>think</span> O&#8217;Hara, think Whalen, think </span><st1:place><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Blackburn</span></st1:place><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'> &#8211; have done for decades if not centuries. But it was Steve who really <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>got it</i> &amp; was thus able to raise it up to the level of visibility, that any poet might be able to make use of the form. For Benson, for whom being present in the moment is so much what his writing is about, it&#8217;s a perfect fit, particularly as no two moments will ever be identical, yet they will always be sharing the same timeless truth: <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>this is now. </i>I turn again to another page, this time further back in the book:<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:1.0in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Anyone can do it, but generally speaking<span class=GramE>,</span><br>
few do. You can see it in the morning<span class=GramE>,</span><br>
a subtle glimmer behind the glare. Whenever<br>
treetops are brought plummeting down by<br>
winter winds, lightning, or collisions, some<br>
people, like animals, wake with a start. At<br>
each evident instance, I start again. What <br>
makes it seem one might be a perception <br>
of ending, or it might be my refusal to<br>
continue as I had been, as when, planning<br>
or daydreaming or rehearsing recriminations,<br>
I stop and notice that I am breathing again,<br>
what color the moss is in this light, the<br>
sounds no one is making<o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Here&#8217;s hoping <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>the ball (30 times in 2 days) </i>shows up in a newer, larger edition, so that everyone can read it, every word. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer'>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>
<span class='post-author vcard'>
Posted by
<span class='fn' itemprop='author' itemscope='itemscope' itemtype='http://schema.org/Person'>
<span itemprop='name'>Ron</span>
</span>
</span>
<span class='post-timestamp'>
at
<meta content='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2005/06/while-i-may-not-approve-of-idea-of.html' itemprop='url'/>
<a class='timestamp-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2005/06/while-i-may-not-approve-of-idea-of.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2005-06-24T06:54:00-04:00'>Friday, June 24, 2005</abbr></a>
</span>
<span class='reaction-buttons'>
</span>
<span class='post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-backlinks post-comment-link'>
</span>
<span class='post-icons'>
<span class='item-action'>
<a href='https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=3738579&postID=111946312259377669' title='Email Post'>
<img alt='' class='icon-action' height='13' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='post-share-buttons goog-inline-block'>
</div>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-2'>
<span class='post-labels'>
Labels:
<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson' rel='tag'>Steve Benson</a>
</span>
</div>
<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>
<span class='post-location'>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

        </div></div>
      
</div>
<div class='blog-pager' id='blog-pager'>
<span id='blog-pager-older-link'>
<a class='blog-pager-older-link' href='https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%20Benson?updated-max=2005-06-24T06:54:00-04:00&amp;max-results=20&amp;start=20&amp;by-date=false' id='Blog1_blog-pager-older-link' title='Older Posts'>Older Posts</a>
</span>
<a class='home-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/'>Home</a>
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
<div class='blog-feeds'>
<div class='feed-links'>
Subscribe to:
<a class='feed-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default' target='_blank' type='application/atom+xml'>Posts (Atom)</a>
</div>
</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div id='sidebar-wrapper'>
<div class='sidebar section' id='sidebar'><div class='widget Text' data-version='1' id='Text4'>
<h2 class='title'>Upcoming</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>
<b>October</b><br /><br />Madrid<br />with Charles Bernstein & Susan Bee<br /><br />Barcelona<br /><div><br /><br />Saragossa?<br /><br /><b>November</b><br /><br />Rome?<div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=Text&widgetId=Text4&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("Text4"));' rel='nofollow' target='configText4' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div><div class='widget TextList' data-version='1' id='TextList1'>
<h2>Email</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>
<ul>
<li>silliman AT gmail DOT com</li>
</ul>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=TextList&widgetId=TextList1&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("TextList1"));' rel='nofollow' target='configTextList1' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div>
</div><div class='widget LinkList' data-version='1' id='LinkList1'>
<h2>Silliman Sites</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>
<ul>
<li><a href='http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1544'>Academy of American Poets</a></li>
<li><a href='http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/silliman'>Electronic Poetry Center</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.facebook.com/ron.silliman'>Facebook</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.goodreads.com/search/search%3Fsearch_type%3Dbooks%26search%5Bquery%5D%3Dron%2Bsilliman'>GoodReads</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/silliman/silliman.htm'>Modern American Poetry</a></li>
<li><a href='http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Silliman.php'>PennSound</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.pcah.us/the-center/grants-awarded/grantees-1998-ron-silliman/'>Pew Fellowships in the Arts</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=6323'>Poetry Foundation</a></li>
<li><a href='http://ronsillimanbibliography.blogspot.com/'>Silliman's Bibliography</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.spdbooks.org/Search/Default.aspx?AuthorName=Ron+Silliman'>Small Press Distribution</a></li>
<li><a href='http://eclipsearchive.org/projects/TOTTELS/'>Tottel's</a></li>
<li><a href='http://twitter.com/ronsilliman'>Twitter</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.ubu.com/contemp/silliman/index.html'>Ubuweb</a></li>
<li><a href='https://library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/findingaids/mss0075.html'>UC San Diego Archives</a></li>
<li><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Silliman'>Wikipedia</a></li>
</ul>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=LinkList&widgetId=LinkList1&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("LinkList1"));' rel='nofollow' target='configLinkList1' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div>
</div><div class='widget Text' data-version='1' id='Text1'>
<h2 class='title'>Ketjak</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>
<a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10742.php">I: The Age of Huts<br /><br /></a>             <a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10742.php"><img src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/u_VsYLU9NS_tJXOrl6A4RM1Dne7QkuSslpBc0StgKSXXoIDStYoXqSwDo2tuxST00QD3ynVJH4yjAhcEzTWyM0F_RriCRx9yZdyygceY2wm-%3Ds0-d" /></a><br /><br /><br />II: Tjanting<br /><br /><a href="https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/tjanting-9781876857196"><img src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/efy1lIcVIKeKSdy_WUDIxV8WLN0OJmA3f7enQ2XDwxwt7Bh5ssfQQAkW_o4oG6FqrB1RGf7CX-Rw-VQ4u36RIuwSsCMxWjjHFDP4c7CbW2d_%3Ds0-d" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Alphabet,1897.aspx">III: The Alphabet<br /><br /></a><a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Alphabet,1897.aspx"><img id="ctl00_MainContent_ProductInfo1_ctl00_PrimaryImage_PrimaryImage" onclick="javascript:window.open(&#39;http://www.uapress.ua.edu//images/temp/212-1897-Product_LargeToMediumImage.jpeg&#39;, 1, &#39;resizable=1, width=500, height=700&#39;)" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/OnaMjXm2h6XxneM04RgHx1Bkf2Wi9UE3a8c3o0NDvW5wXo7BK3MaM5VP9YfbEIpHYxAstTorwhNW4lhhkNuua5bDX7Ogr2UgZ1NMDDjeh-0bNnuo-WH-9pGHIR6lv-4-_UDHVNe36xB6%3Ds0-d" style="border: 1px solid Gray;" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>IV. from Universe</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=Text&widgetId=Text1&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("Text1"));' rel='nofollow' target='configText1' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div><div class='widget Text' data-version='1' id='Text3'>
<h2 class='title'>Other Books in Print</h2>
<div class='widget-content'>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">MEMOIRS &amp; COLLABORATIONS</span><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leningrad-American-Writers-Soviet-Union/dp/1562790056">Leningrad</a><br /><a href="http://www.thegrandpiano.org/">The Grand Piano</a><br /><a href="https://www.saltpublishing.com/products/under-albany-9781844710515">Under Albany</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">CRITICISM</span><br /><a href="http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/0937804207/the-new-sentence.aspx">The New Sentence</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">ANTHOLOGY</span><br /><a href="https://secure.touchnet.com/C22921_ustores/web/classic/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=327&SINGLESTORE=true">In The American Tree</a><br /><br /><br /><br />
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=Text&widgetId=Text3&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("Text3"));' rel='nofollow' target='configText3' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div><div class='widget Image' data-version='1' id='Image1'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<img alt='' height='163' id='Image1_img' src='//3.bp.blogspot.com/_TEBx9oYcXio/S9oGYEaetqI/AAAAAAAABDs/UI7l5u8GwcA/S230/redron.jpg' width='230'/>
<br/>
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=Image&widgetId=Image1&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("Image1"));' rel='nofollow' target='configImage1' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div><div class='widget Text' data-version='1' id='Text2'>
<div class='widget-content'>
<br /><img alt="" src="file%3A///Users/Lynn/Desktop/silliman2a.jpg" / /><img alt="" src="file%3A///Users/Lynn/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png" / /><span style="color: #990000; font-weight: bold;">RON SILLIMAN</span> has written and edited 40 books, and had his poetry and criticism translated into 16 languages. Silliman was a 2012 Kelly Writers House Fellow, the 2010 recipient of the Levinson Prize from the Poetry Foundation, a 2003 Literary Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, a 2002 Fellow of the Pennsylvania Arts Council, and a 1998 Pew Fellow in the Arts. Silliman has a plaque in the walk dedicated to poetry in his home town of Berkeley and a sculpture in the Transit Center of Bury, Lancaster, a part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail. He lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(c) 2002-2019 by Ron Silliman.
</div>
<div class='clear'></div>
<span class='widget-item-control'>
<span class='item-control blog-admin'>
<a class='quickedit' href='//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=3738579&widgetType=Text&widgetId=Text2&action=editWidget&sectionId=sidebar' onclick='return _WidgetManager._PopupConfig(document.getElementById("Text2"));' rel='nofollow' target='configText2' title='Edit'>
<img alt='' height='18' src='https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_wrench_allbkg.png' width='18'/>
</a>
</span>
</span>
<div class='clear'></div>
</div></div>
</div>
<!-- spacer for skins that want sidebar and main to be the same height-->
<div class='clear'>&#160;</div>
</div>
<!-- end content-wrapper -->
</div></div>
<!-- end outer-wrapper -->

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/widgets/1068551213-widgets.js"></script>
<script type='text/javascript'>
window['__wavt'] = 'AOuZoY7cocGC7MF8sBY-CQiQpQkGIIZC1g:1574359243658';_WidgetManager._Init('//www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID\x3d3738579','//ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%20Benson','3738579');
_WidgetManager._SetDataContext([{'name': 'blog', 'data': {'blogId': '3738579', 'title': 'Silliman\x27s Blog', 'url': 'https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson', 'canonicalUrl': 'https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson', 'homepageUrl': 'https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/', 'searchUrl': 'https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search', 'canonicalHomepageUrl': 'https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/', 'blogspotFaviconUrl': 'https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/favicon.ico', 'bloggerUrl': 'https://www.blogger.com', 'hasCustomDomain': false, 'httpsEnabled': true, 'enabledCommentProfileImages': true, 'gPlusViewType': 'FILTERED_POSTMOD', 'adultContent': false, 'analyticsAccountNumber': '', 'encoding': 'UTF-8', 'locale': 'en', 'localeUnderscoreDelimited': 'en', 'languageDirection': 'ltr', 'isPrivate': false, 'isMobile': false, 'isMobileRequest': false, 'mobileClass': '', 'isPrivateBlog': false, 'feedLinks': '\x3clink rel\x3d\x22alternate\x22 type\x3d\x22application/atom+xml\x22 title\x3d\x22Silliman\x26#39;s Blog - Atom\x22 href\x3d\x22https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default\x22 /\x3e\n\x3clink rel\x3d\x22alternate\x22 type\x3d\x22application/rss+xml\x22 title\x3d\x22Silliman\x26#39;s Blog - RSS\x22 href\x3d\x22https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt\x3drss\x22 /\x3e\n\x3clink rel\x3d\x22service.post\x22 type\x3d\x22application/atom+xml\x22 title\x3d\x22Silliman\x26#39;s Blog - Atom\x22 href\x3d\x22https://www.blogger.com/feeds/3738579/posts/default\x22 /\x3e\n', 'meTag': '', 'adsenseHostId': 'ca-host-pub-1556223355139109', 'adsenseHasAds': false, 'view': '', 'dynamicViewsCommentsSrc': '//www.blogblog.com/dynamicviews/4224c15c4e7c9321/js/comments.js', 'dynamicViewsScriptSrc': '//www.blogblog.com/dynamicviews/ac414222f14fdfa1', 'plusOneApiSrc': 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'disableGComments': true, 'sharing': {'platforms': [{'name': 'Get link', 'key': 'link', 'shareMessage': 'Get link', 'target': ''}, {'name': 'Facebook', 'key': 'facebook', 'shareMessage': 'Share to Facebook', 'target': 'facebook'}, {'name': 'BlogThis!', 'key': 'blogThis', 'shareMessage': 'BlogThis!', 'target': 'blog'}, {'name': 'Twitter', 'key': 'twitter', 'shareMessage': 'Share to Twitter', 'target': 'twitter'}, {'name': 'Pinterest', 'key': 'pinterest', 'shareMessage': 'Share to Pinterest', 'target': 'pinterest'}, {'name': 'Email', 'key': 'email', 'shareMessage': 'Email', 'target': 'email'}], 'disableGooglePlus': true, 'googlePlusShareButtonWidth': 300, 'googlePlusBootstrap': '\x3cscript type\x3d\x22text/javascript\x22\x3ewindow.___gcfg \x3d {\x27lang\x27: \x27en\x27};\x3c/script\x3e'}, 'hasCustomJumpLinkMessage': false, 'jumpLinkMessage': 'Read more', 'pageType': 'index', 'searchLabel': 'Steve Benson', 'pageName': 'Steve Benson', 'pageTitle': 'Silliman\x27s Blog: Steve Benson'}}, {'name': 'features', 'data': {'sharing_get_link_dialog': 'true', 'sharing_native': 'false'}}, {'name': 'messages', 'data': {'edit': 'Edit', 'linkCopiedToClipboard': 'Link copied to clipboard!', 'ok': 'Ok', 'postLink': 'Post Link'}}, {'name': 'template', 'data': {'name': 'custom', 'localizedName': 'Custom', 'isResponsive': false, 'isAlternateRendering': false, 'isCustom': true}}, {'name': 'view', 'data': {'classic': {'name': 'classic', 'url': '?view\x3dclassic'}, 'flipcard': {'name': 'flipcard', 'url': '?view\x3dflipcard'}, 'magazine': {'name': 'magazine', 'url': '?view\x3dmagazine'}, 'mosaic': {'name': 'mosaic', 'url': '?view\x3dmosaic'}, 'sidebar': {'name': 'sidebar', 'url': '?view\x3dsidebar'}, 'snapshot': {'name': 'snapshot', 'url': '?view\x3dsnapshot'}, 'timeslide': {'name': 'timeslide', 'url': '?view\x3dtimeslide'}, 'isMobile': false, 'title': 'Silliman\x27s Blog', 'description': 'A weblog focused on contemporary poetry and poetics.', 'url': 'https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/search/label/Steve%2520Benson', 'type': 'feed', 'isSingleItem': false, 'isMultipleItems': true, 'isError': false, 'isPage': false, 'isPost': false, 'isHomepage': false, 'isArchive': false, 'isSearch': true, 'isLabelSearch': true, 'search': {'label': 'Steve Benson', 'resultsMessage': 'Showing posts with the label Steve Benson', 'resultsMessageHtml': 'Showing posts with the label \x3cspan class\x3d\x27search-label\x27\x3eSteve Benson\x3c/span\x3e'}}}]);
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_NavbarView', new _WidgetInfo('Navbar1', 'navbar', document.getElementById('Navbar1'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_HeaderView', new _WidgetInfo('Header1', 'header', document.getElementById('Header1'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_BlogView', new _WidgetInfo('Blog1', 'main', document.getElementById('Blog1'), {'cmtInteractionsEnabled': false, 'navMessage': 'Showing posts with label \x3cb\x3eSteve Benson\x3c/b\x3e. \x3ca href\x3d\x22https://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/\x22\x3eShow all posts\x3c/a\x3e', 'lightboxEnabled': true, 'lightboxModuleUrl': 'https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/jsbin/4152225668-lbx.js', 'lightboxCssUrl': 'https://www.blogger.com/static/v1/v-css/368954415-lightbox_bundle.css'}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_TextView', new _WidgetInfo('Text4', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('Text4'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_TextListView', new _WidgetInfo('TextList1', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('TextList1'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_LinkListView', new _WidgetInfo('LinkList1', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('LinkList1'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_TextView', new _WidgetInfo('Text1', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('Text1'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_TextView', new _WidgetInfo('Text3', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('Text3'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_ImageView', new _WidgetInfo('Image1', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('Image1'), {'resize': false}, 'displayModeFull'));
_WidgetManager._RegisterWidget('_TextView', new _WidgetInfo('Text2', 'sidebar', document.getElementById('Text2'), {}, 'displayModeFull'));
</script>
</body>
</html>