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<a href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/'>
Silliman's Blog
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<p class='description'><span>A weblog focused on contemporary poetry and poetics.</span></p>
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Showing posts with label <b>tripwire</b>. <a href="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a>
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<div class='status-msg-hidden'>Showing posts with label <b>tripwire</b>. <a href="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/">Show all posts</a></div>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, March 07, 2003</span></h2>

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<span style="font-family: Arial;">One thing about the
Internet: when you get it wrong, you can be corrected from a great distance
almost instantly. From </span><st1:place><st1:city><span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Capetown</span></span></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">South Africa</span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">, Robert <span class="SpellE">Berold</span> &amp; Paul <span class="SpellE">Wessels</span>, the publishers of </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Deep South</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">, whose books include <span class="SpellE">Seitlhamo</span> <span class="SpellE">Motsapi&#8217;s</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.deepsouth.co.za/publishing/thelist.html"><span class="SpellE">earthstepper</span>/the
ocean is very shallow</a><span class="GramE">,</span> </i>identify a thread I
missed entirely in <a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2003_02_01_ronsilliman_archive.html%2389770989">my
reading</a> of one of <span class="SpellE">Motsapi&#8217;s</span> poems in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.durationpress.com/tripwire/index.htm">Tripwire</a> </i>6:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="GramE"><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">dear</span></span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> ron silliman</span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="GramE"><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">we</span></span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> think you are making too much of the obscurity of <span class="SpellE">seitlhamo</span> <span class="SpellE">motsapi's</span> poem. <span class="GramE">how</span> about simply <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">moni</span></span></span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> = money<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">culculatahs</span></span></span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> = calculators (with pretensions)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">conputers</span></span></span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> = computers (with the con of capitalism)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">robert</span></span></span></span><span class="emailstyle15"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span class="SpellE">berold</span>+ <span class="SpellE">paul</span> <span class="SpellE">wessels</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Moni</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">
being <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">money </i>brings the stanza I was
most confused by into much greater focus:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">their</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> kisses bite<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">like</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> the deep bellies of </span><span class="SpellE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">conputers</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> gravy of their songs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">smells</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> like the slow piss of </span><span class="SpellE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">culculatahs</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But I wasn&#8217;t arguing for the
obscurity of <span class="SpellE">Motsapi&#8217;s</span> poem, only my own difficulty
at knowing how &#8220;to grasp some portion of the references &amp; allusions without
importing too many.&#8221; While I thought <span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">conputers</i></span></span><span class="GramE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>was</span> clear enough, the initial &#8220;<span class="SpellE">cul</span>&#8221; of <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">culculatahs</i></span> threw me &#8211; I still don&#8217;t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hear</i> it, although the reference back now to <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">moni</i></span> pulls the chain of elements
into a single overarching scheme of references tightly enough. The problem, if
it is one, is that I personally lack the context &#8211; literally &#8211; for hearing <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">moni</i></span> as <span class="GramE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">money</i>,</span> there
simply isn&#8217;t enough diversity among the speakers in my social milieu for that to
strike me as a probable variant. My own ignorance here simply underscores the
question I was raising. Happily, though, my conclusion that &#8220;I don&#8217;t need to
know this in order to recognize that &#8216;<span class="SpellE"><span class="spelle">moni</span></span>&#8217;
is an unquestionably wonderful poem&#8221; still stands. <span class="SpellE">Motsapi</span>
strikes me as a poet absolutely worth reading, regardless of how much cultural
baggage I need to shed in order to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Thursday, February 27, 2003</span></h2>

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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Perhaps the article in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.durationpress.com/tripwire/index.htm">tripwire</a> </i>6 that
most directly tackles the question of community is K. Silem Mohammad&#8217;s &#8220;Creeping
it real: Brian Kim Stefans&#8217; &#8216;Invisible Congress&#8217; and the Notion of Community,&#8221;
a critique of sorts of Stefans&#8217; &#8220;<a href="http://www.arras.net/stefans_full.htm">When
Lilacs Last in the Door: Notes on New Poetry</a>,&#8221; an overview of younger poets
that Stefans initially undertook for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poets
&amp; Writers</i> &#8211; specifically for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;
</span>Michael <span class="SpellE">Scharf&#8217;s</span> &#8220;<span class="SpellE">Metromania</span>&#8221;
column &#8211; moving it over to </span><st1:personname><span style="font-family: Arial;">Steve Evans</span></st1:personname><span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8217;
webzine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Third Factory </i>after the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">P&amp;W </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>editors rejected it.* <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stefans&#8217; article proposes
the existence of a new literary tendency that he literally calls The Creeps,
after the Radiohead song. In his article, Stefans quotes from the song &#8211; &#8220;But
I&#8217;m a creep / I&#8217;m a weirdo / what the hell am I doing here? / I don&#8217;t belong
here&#8221; &#8211; to &#8220;explain&#8221; why he chose such a consciously anti-attractive moniker to
assign to the fortunate few he so characterizes. Pointedly, Stefans neglects to
include the lines that lead up to this chorus, perhaps because they articulate
his position a little too plaintively:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I want to have control<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I want a perfect body<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I want a perfect soul<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I want you to notice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">when</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> I&#8217;m
not around<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">you&#8217;re</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> so
fucking special<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I wish I was special<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stefans also lists 19
writers &amp; 21 books to pin down if not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i><span style="font-family: Arial;">then
at least <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">who</i> (besides himself) he
means:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Caroline <span class="SpellE">Bergvall's</span> <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goan</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Atom</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Lee Ann Brown's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Polyverse</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Miles Champions' <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three </i></span><st1:city><st1:place><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bell</span></i></st1:place></st1:city><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Zero</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<st1:personname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kevin Davies</span></st1:personname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">' <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Comp</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Tim Davis' <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dailies</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Jeff Derksen's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dwell</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dan Farrell's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Last Instance</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Robert Fitterman's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Metropolis
1-15</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kenneth Goldsmith's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No. 111
2.7.93-10.20.96</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Lisa Jarnot's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Some Other
Kind of </i></span><st1:city><st1:place><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mission</span></i></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span class="SpellE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Adeena</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <span class="SpellE">Karasick's</span> <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dyssemia</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Sleaze</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Pamela Lu's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pamela: A Novel</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bill Luoma's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Works and Days</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Jennifer Moxley's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Imagination
Verses</i> and her chapbook <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wrong Life</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Harriet Mullens' <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Muse and
Drudge</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<st1:personname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Rod Smith</span></st1:personname><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">'s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Protective Immediacy</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Memory of My Theories</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Chris Stroffolino's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stealer's
Wheel</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Rodrigo Toscano's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Partisans</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">Darren <span class="SpellE">Wershler</span>-Henry's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the tapeworm foundry</i>&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That&#8217;s an interesting &#8211; if
not particularly coherent &#8211; roster, ranging from the constraint-driven
formalism of Mullen &amp; the Canadian post-Oulipo experimenters to the
epistemology-centered Moxley**, to Pamela Lu&#8217;s poignantly retro novella, a
retelling of sorts of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catcher in the Rye </i>as
filtered through Ashbery&#8217;s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three Poems, </i>to
several poets with visible post-langpo &amp; post-NY school concerns. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">If Stefans&#8217; initial piece is
itself an instance of post-langpo counter-canon formation, parallel in purpose
if not specifics to the claims underlying the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O&#8226;blēk </i>&#8221;</span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial;">New</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-family: Arial;">Coast</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8221; anthology &amp; subsequent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apex of the M</i> editorials or Sianne Ngai&#8217;s &#8220;Poetics of Disgust,&#8221;
what seems to interest Mohammad most about Creepy poetry is a claim that I
don&#8217;t think Stefans actually makes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The eyebrow-raising element
here is the claim that Creeps want to break out of the community model of experimental
writing, a model that has held indomitable sway for decades, notably reinforced
and codified in Ron Silliman&#8217;s passionate introduction to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In the American Tree.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Given that, as per Sartre,
the alternative to the group is serial formation, a phenomenon that is
synonymous with the atomizing principles of capitalism &#8211; &amp; nowhere more
visible in literature than in the sales-driven approach to books of the </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;"> trade publishers &#8211; that &#8220;break out&#8221; would more
accurately be characterized as <span class="GramE">a surrender</span>, if in fact
it were the case. The adjective Creepy would acquire a whole new (or, rather,
very old) set of meanings. But I don&#8217;t think this is what Stefans was driving
at in his original piece. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The passage that Mohammad
cites for this eye-brow elevation is the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">all</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> the Creeps share . .
. a surprising desire to communicate, to perform, to create social <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">interactivity</i>, and to expand beyond the
small communities that have been their inherited legacy from previous American
avant-gardes. They are often experimentalists, but have no interest in
experiment for its own sake, at least if the results are not something like a
public, often very entertaining, form of poetry, a sort of deviant form of
street theater itself.&nbsp;The Creeps are almost universally very funny,
though why there has been such a turn to humor in their poetry is matter for
debate<span class="GramE">.*</span>**</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This anxiety about
communicating with a broader constituency of readers fits in perfectly with the
high-school discomfiture articulated by the Radiohead lyrics, but it&#8217;s a
considerable leap &#8211; very nearly a rocket launch &#8211; to suggest that any, let
alone all, of the lucky Creeps want to make the leap to appearances on Oprah or
even </span><st1:personname><span style="font-family: Arial;">Jim Behrle</span></st1:personname><span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8217;s poetry spots on NPR&#8217;s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.here-now.org/">Here and Now</a></i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stefans&#8217; argument can be
framed as making a case for a return from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trobar
clus,</i> the consciously difficult poetry that the <a href="http://gallica.bnf.fr/themes/LitMAd.htm">12<sup>th</sup> century
troubadours wrote</a> for each other along with the complex <span class="SpellE">melopoetics</span>
of <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tobar</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="SpellE">ric</span>, </i>back
toward something akin to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trobar <span class="SpellE">leu</span></i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">plan</i>,
the more open-ended &amp; simpler poems composed for less literate audiences.
This I would agree with Kasey is eye-brow <span class="GramE">raising</span>, but
mostly because it so closely parallels the argument offered by Dana Gioia in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.danagioia.net/essays/ecpm.htm">Can Poetry Matter?</a> </i>The
logic that one could theoretically arrive at a more popular poetry is sometimes
put forward to justify the existence of a Billy Collins or Deborah Garrison or
Sophie Hannah or Wendy Cope. Clearly, none of the Creeps are involved in
anything remotely that creepy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The problem &#8211; which in fact
is the question of community itself &#8211; of belonging, as such, cannot escape history.
History teaches what history teaches, which includes the inescapable detail
that even as these genres were already subdividing amoeba-like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nine centuries ago</i>, the arrival of
post-12<sup>th</sup> century modes of story telling, ranging from the novel to
cinema to reality TV, have occupied &#8211; for good reason &#8211; the social space
previously taken up by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trobar <span class="SpellE">leu</span></i>. In fact, if one looks to those contemporary
societies in which poetry has occupied something akin to a truly popular genre,
such as late-Stalinist Soviet </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Russia</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> or the remoter districts of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Yemen</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">, there are inevitably &amp; always specific historic
circumstances that have thwarted or diverted the narrative genres that absorb
these spaces in the post-industrial West. We don&#8217;t need Homer precisely because
we already have Homer Simpson.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If Stefans was, as I
suspect, doing some creative mischief-making for the institutional context of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poets &amp; Writers, </i>Mohammad attempts
to spin this rather wispy daydream into a far more formidable theoretic
construction. Mohammad asks:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So how does Creep turn away
from a community-based poetics?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Only to
the extent that it rejects the notion of a safe enclave, a privileged
brotherhood of artistry in which the problems of the outside world are, after
all, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">outside</i>, and at least there&#8217;s that.
It does this by raising the quixotic possibility of intercourse between
experimental poetry and mainstream culture . . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Mohammad&#8217;s evidence for
this, which goes on for a couple of pages, is entirely a list of literary
devices associated with language poetry. This suggests that an important part
of literary formation is, or at least might be, creative amnesia &#8211; and on this
question I&#8217;d probably concur, noting how Robert Grenier&#8217;s great &#8220;break&#8221; with
speech in 1970 was directed precisely toward the poetics toward which he felt
himself most deeply attracted. Three decades hence, langpo finds itself drawn
into this same quandary of being configured as an impediment rather than a
foundation even as the evidence duly displayed directly contradicts the charge.
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plus ça change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>. . .<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Perhaps the most problematic
part of Mohammad&#8217;s construction is that he pulls back from it at the end, not
unlike Chaucer&#8217;s deathbed apology: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">this</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> is
exactly what I find attractive about Stefans&#8217; Creep (anti-) aesthetic: it&#8217;s a
movement that is formed within the mind of the reader, not the designs of a
self-articulated community. Stefans&#8217; apprehension of Creepiness comes from his
own Creepy imagination, his own desire to oversee a troupe of invisible,
flea-like verbal acrobats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Now there&#8217;s an attractive
proposition! How would you like to be both invisible &amp; flea-like? Sign me
up, Kasey! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Not.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">However, Mohammad is almost
certainly accurate in his next (and final) assertion:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That the poets [Stefans] names are
readily conformable to such a desire says something about their shared use of
certain techniques and their common concerns as postmodern artists, but more
about a simultaneous resistance and porousness in their work that encourages
progressive (but diverse) notions of community to be constructed from the
margins outward (inward?) &#8211; there is no Creep manifesto, only an ever-growing
passenger manifest, the names on which can be shuffled according to the needs
of an equally various and multiple collective of readerly sensibilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sure sounds like Sartre&#8217;s
vision of serialization &amp; capitalist atomization to me, a series of
infinitely substitutable parts that can be popped out of a box or anthology &#8211;
like a chess set composed entirely of pawns &#8211; and dropped into any theory one
wants. This goes right back to the suppressed lyrics of the original Radiohead
song, &#8220;I want to have control.&#8221; This is a vision of a generation of poets who
have no clue what that might feel like. And don&#8217;t understand that such &#8220;porousness&#8221;
is as much a lethal threat to <span class="GramE">themselves</span> as it is
astronauts on the space shuttle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">To the degree that Stefans,
or Ngai or even the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apex</i> / <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O&#8226;blēk </i>gang make efforts to
challenge that porousness, their attempts, however partial &amp; one-sided,
align them with the angels of history, for which they all deserve our thanks
&amp; support. But to the degree that anybody imagines a community of rugged
individuals &#8211; which is what the post-community monad most certainly is &#8211; as a
possibility, these poets can only continue to ask themselves &#8220;what the hell am
I doing here?&#8221;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">* Evans
asks that links not be made to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Third
Factory</i>, which is why the link to Stefans&#8217; piece goes to a linked
bibliography of Brian&#8217;s that does have an apparently authorized link. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">** Stefans
claims, using Moxley as his &#8220;evidence,&#8221; that &#8220;Creeps . . . are not . . .
greatly concerned with epistemological issues&#8221;!?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">*** Again,
the test of Stefans&#8217; claim here is, or should be, Jennifer Moxley&#8217;s poetry.
I&#8217;ve argued here before that this would be a total misreading of her work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style='clear: both;'></div>
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          </div></div>
        

          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Wednesday, February 26, 2003</span></h2>

          <div class="date-posts">
        
<div class='post-outer'>
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<div class='post-body entry-content' id='post-body-89770989' itemprop='description articleBody'>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Try this poem out with an
American ear &#8211; or, for that matter, with whatever variant of English you happen
to have:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">moni</span></b></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">&amp; so the new <span class="SpellE">blackses</span> arrive<br />
all scent &amp; drape to their <span class="SpellE">clamour</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">head</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> &amp; heart the liquid <span class="SpellE">odour</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">of</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> roads that defy oceans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">from</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> the fiery splash of pool<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span><span class="GramE">pits</span>
they preach us <span class="SpellE">redamp</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class="GramE">shun</span> from the dust<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span><span class="GramE">of</span> the old ways<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">their</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> kisses bite<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">like</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> the deep bellies of <span class="SpellE">conputers</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">the</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> gravy of their songs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">smells</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> like the slow piss of <span class="SpellE">culculatahs</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">&amp; so<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">the</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> new <span class="SpellE">blackses</span>
arrive<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">&amp; promise us life beyond the bleed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">of</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> the common yell<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">they</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> promise us new spring<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">for</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> the slow limp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">of</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> our heads<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">meanwhile</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">the</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> ladder finds the sky at last<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">heart</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> or herd slinks to the waters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">mbira</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> grows into a synthesizer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">the</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"> songs ask for more sugar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">&amp; my salt sets sail for </span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="SpellE"><span class="GramE"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;">babylon</span></span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If I hadn&#8217;t known the
context of this poem in the latest <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.durationpress.com/tripwire/index.htm">tripwire</a></i>, I
would not have recognized it as African until the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.mbira.org/instrument.html"><span class="SpellE">mbira</span></a>,</i>
the <span class="SpellE">Shona</span> variant of the thumb piano, an instrument I
associate with the music of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Zimbabwe</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Not surprisingly, then, the poet <span class="SpellE">Seitlhamo</span> <span class="SpellE">Motsapi</span> comes from the
South African </span><st1:place><st1:placetype><span style="font-family: Arial;">province</span></st1:placetype><span style="font-family: Arial;"> of </span><st1:placename><span class="SpellE"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Limpopo</span></span></st1:placename></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">, the northernmost part of the country, bordering
Zimbabwe &amp; nearly 1,000 miles north of Cape Town. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I don&#8217;t, it&#8217;s worth noting,
know enough about orchids to recognize the poem&#8217;s curious variant spelling of
the Latin term for the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">South Africa</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">n witch orchid, <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">disperis</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="SpellE">cucullata</span>,</i> and in fact that name is also
found in the Latin term for a South African bird, the bronze-winged <span class="SpellE">mannikin</span>, so I can&#8217;t even be sure that it&#8217;s the humidity I
associate with orchids in general that is the image schema underlying the &#8220;slow
piss&#8221; at the end of the third stanza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">One of the great challenges
of reading poetry from another culture, let alone language, is to be able to
grasp some portion of the references &amp; allusions without importing too many
of your own. Reading the very first line of this text, I have to suppress the
idea that (1) the opening phrase might be an allusion to Pound&#8217;s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cantos</i> &amp; (2) the even more perverse
echo I get of <span class="SpellE">Tolkien&#8217;s</span> character Gollum pluralizing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">blacks</i> as <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">blackses</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i> Conversely, there are so many possible meanings to the title <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">moni</i></span> &#8211; it&#8217;s
everything from the first name of a popular pan-African singer to a resort in </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Windhoek</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;"> to the surname of an early Italian settler in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">South Africa</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> to the stock ticker for Marconi Communications on
the South African Stock Exchange &#8211; <span class="GramE">that</span> I simply have
to let it go. To the degree that this name tells a native reader the subject of
this poem, I have no access to what it might indicate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But I don&#8217;t need to know
this in order to recognize that &#8220;<span class="SpellE">moni</span>&#8221; is an
unquestionably wonderful poem. It&#8217;s use of imagery &amp; rhythms jump right off
the page. The prosody has an elegance that translates beyond dialect &amp; a
deliberate &#8220;misspelling&#8221; (e.g. <span class="SpellE"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">conputer</i></span>) positions the text into a voice-based tradition
that Heriberto Yepez&#8217; Mexican poetics would acknowledge as different from their
own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Over one third of the new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tripwire</i> is devoted to new writing from </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Southern Africa</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">, a good portion just as riveting as <span class="SpellE">Motsapi&#8217;s</span> poem. Overall, however, I found myself frustrated
that the brief introduction &#8211; a single page, unsigned -- &amp; Robert <span class="SpellE">Berold&#8217;s</span> interview with <span class="SpellE">Lesego</span> <span class="SpellE">Rampolokeng</span> &amp; Ike <span class="SpellE">Mboneni</span> <span class="SpellE">Muila</span> don&#8217;t offer more than the merest of glimpses at the
broader contexts in which this poetry is being written. The brief reference to <span class="SpellE">isicamtho</span> doesn&#8217;t make it clear, for example, that this is
a form of township slang that enables speakers of </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">South Africa</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8217;s multiple languages to negotiate daily life. <span class="SpellE">Muila&#8217;s</span> own poem &#8220;In No Time&#8221; literally offers glosses to
the right of the text body. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The question of context
certainly has implications for how a work is received. Consider this section of
a longer poem by Jeremy Cronin:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sometime
after the revolution, Soviet libraries adopted the Dewey Decimal System<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With
one rectification &#8211; the two hundreds: Religion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All the
way from 201, <span class="GramE">202,</span> skip a few, 214 Theodicy, 216 Good
&amp; Evil, 229 Apocrypha &amp; pseudo-epigraphs, down to 299 Other religion &#8211;
this great textual body of human </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">wis</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">dom,
confusion, folly and aspiration was reduced by the Soviets to a bald:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Dewey
Decimal 200: Atheism<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This
was not (not by far) the worst sin of Stalinism<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But it
was its most typical<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .75in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This
should be remembered of the 20<sup>th</sup> century<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This deadpan recitation, a
rough approximation of which might occur on any given day in the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">United States</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> on the programs of Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan or
the 700 Club, seems curious in this collection. That Cronin is the Deputy
Secretary General of the South African Communist Party doesn&#8217;t so much position
the statement as it does testify to the degree to which someone from the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> has an immense bridge to cross in order to gain any
sense of grounding when reading contemporary South African poetry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Writing of how many &#8220;nation
language&#8221; poets have arguments not dissimilar from those associated with langpo
for arriving at a non-standard approach to English language, <a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2002_11_01_ronsilliman_archive.html%2385009080">Juliana
Spahr wrote in this blog</a> last November that &#8220;They are different arguments
but they meet in various ways. And yet the poets so rarely meet in journals, in
readings, at parties. What a lost opportunity.&#8221; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tripwire </i>is certainly ensuring that such radically different
poetries meet in the pages of its journal, but I wish that somebody had done
for </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">South
  Africa</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">
what Heriberto Yepez did for Mexico &amp; offered a map. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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          <div class="date-outer">
        
<h2 class='date-header'><span>Tuesday, February 25, 2003</span></h2>

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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Every once in awhile, I come
across a magazine or website that just reeks of the poetry of the future &#8211; it&#8217;s
like accidentally opening the door to a furnace you hadn&#8217;t realized was there.
The heat given off is palpable &amp; feels more than a little dangerous. At the
same time, you now have a sense of just how much energy lies behind that door.
A particularly excellent example of this is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.durationpress.com/tripwire/index.htm">tripwire</a> </i>6,
edited by <span class="SpellE">Yedda</span> Morrison &amp; David <span class="SpellE">Buuck</span> out of </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">San Francisco</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;">. Subtitled almost too narrowly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a journal of poetics,</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tripwire
</i>6 is all about community, defined large. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The ways <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tripwire</i> confronts this issue are
several. What drew me into the issue at first was an essay by Heriberto Yepez.
Yepez is a Mexican poet whose work I didn&#8217;t know until <a href="http://jonathanmayhew.blogspot.com/">Jonathan Mayhew</a> made me aware of
Yepez&#8217; superlative blog, <a href="http://thetijuanabibleofpoetics.blogspot.com/">The
Tijuana Bible of Poetics!</a> (T-BOP) T-BOP is one of the finest weblogs
related to poetry &amp; poetics, and offers the considerable value of
approaching these issues from perspectives that are, for me, completely new
&amp; fresh. After becoming a complete T-BOP addict, I also discovered a series
of fascinating <a href="http://www.factoryschool.org/backlight/yepez/yepez.html">sign
poems</a> in both English &amp; Spanish up on Joel Kuszai&#8217;s </span><st1:place><st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial;">Factory</span></st1:placename><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><st1:placetype><span style="font-family: Arial;">School</span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;"> website. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Yepez&#8217; piece in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tripwire</i>, &#8220;What About the Mexican Poetry
Scene?&#8221; describes post-Paz Mexican poetics in terms completely accessible to
readers who, in fact, are clueless on the writing to our South. Yepez does this
through a series of quite savvy comparisons with the poetry scene we do know &#8211;
our own </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> hodge-podge. Thus:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">With the death
of Octavio Paz, Mexican poetry lost its center; </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> poetry has no ascertainable center.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8220;In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mexico</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">, writers have . . . real power and use it up front.&#8221;
&#8220;In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mexico</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">, Charles Bernstein and Rae Armantrout would have to
(even be pressed to) periodically speak on current issues on the Mexican
equivalent of NBC&#8217;s evening news or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nightline.</i>&#8221;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">This social
power &#8220;makes it impossible for even a radical poet to stay for too long&#8221; in </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mexico</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">Mexican poetry&#8217;s
orientation toward innovation &amp; experimentalism &#8220;resembles the
self-understanding of black innovative tradition,&#8221; balancing progressive
impulses with conventional forms.*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">There is &#8220;no
hard mainstream in </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Latin
 America</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;"> . . . simply
because in </span><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Latin America</span></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;"> the avant-garde won.&#8221; Yet, paradoxically, &#8220;Octavio
Paz established the idea that after surrealism no avant-garde could be possible
again.&#8221;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8220;Voice and
performance have been protagonists of American counterpoetics from the Harlem
Renaissance and the Beats to today&#8217;s </span><st1:city><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">San Francisco</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;"> and </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">New York</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;"> poetry scenes. In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mexico</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">, this is not the case. We are wed to a text-based
composition.&#8221;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 75.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 75.0pt; text-indent: -.25in;">
&lt;![if !supportLists]&gt;<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">&#167;<span style="font: 7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>&lt;![endif]&gt;<span style="font-family: Arial;">&#8220;Another big
difference is that current American poets are more domestic than we are. They
can feed each other. In </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Mexico</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;">, for example, there is now a growing discussion on
using English and getting in touch with contemporary American poetics
(experimental and mainstream).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A
major concern of Yepez centers on speculation as to the future of Mexican
poetry, post-Paz. Will a new center form to monopolize the whole of literature?
Will it evolve into something similar to the two traditions that have waged
cultural war in the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">United States</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> since at least the 1840s? Or will it devolve into
something much more fragmented &amp; <span class="GramE">chaotic,</span> the way
the post-avant </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> scene seems to many observers today? Yepez notes the emergence of new
modes of writing that have, as yet, to be incorporated into the broader Mexican
cultural fabric &#8211; bilingual Indian poets &amp; <span class="SpellE">vizpo</span>,
as resistant to the historic frames &amp; constraints of Mexican writing as
this transnational counter-tradition appears to be in almost every other
culture. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">How
accurate is Yepez&#8217; characterization of the Mexican scene? I can&#8217;t say &amp; I&#8217;m
naturally wary &#8211; I can recall James Breslin&#8217;s depiction of the </span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">U.S.</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="font-family: Arial;"> scene in the early 1970s as a series of peaceful
suburbs with no urban center (the approximate role that Paz plays in Yepez&#8217;
model) against which to be defined. Yet Breslin taught in the same department
as Robert Grenier, David Henderson, Richard Tillinghast &amp; Denise Levertov
when he penned those words, a department that was abandoned by Louis Simpson
only a few years earlier with a public outcry that there was no room for his
kind of poetry in the Bay Area literary scene in the wake of the Berkeley
Poetry Conference of 1965.** Because Yepez&#8217; depiction of the U.S. scene is
generally reasonable &amp; accurate &#8211; more so than any I&#8217;ve read by Ms.
Vendler, let alone Breslin &#8211; I&#8217;m inclined to accept his portrayal of Mexican
poetry. But even more than this, Yepez&#8217; article makes me realize how much I
need to buy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Across the Line / Al <span class="SpellE">Otro</span> <span class="SpellE">Lado</span>, </i>Harry <span class="SpellE">Polkinhorn</span> &amp; Mark Weiss&#8217; anthology of the poetry of
Baja California, and how much I need Jen Hofer&#8217;s forthcoming anthology of
poetry by Mexican women, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sin <span class="SpellE">puertas</span> <span class="SpellE">visibles</span>, </i>due in
April from the University of Pittsburgh Press. .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">* But <span class="SpellE">but</span> <span class="SpellE">but</span>
what about Robert Creeley, Bernadette Mayer, Lee Ann Brown? All three could be
described in exactly such terms. A poet such as Helen Adams, or Edwin Denby,
could hardly be described otherwise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">** Breslin was a classic example of the well-intended poetry
critic who never attended a reading that was not sponsored by his own English
department &#8211; a travesty in the context of the San Francisco Bay Area, as indeed
it would be in any region, even </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Wyoming</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<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.
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