A Blogland Vogue for Answers
Laura Carter, Odalisque, Bill Marsh, Jack Kimball and Radical Druid
sing out new answers to Jonathan Mayhew's cool poetics questions
Laura Carter likes our question 5 answer below and calls it "heartfelt"
Jack Kimball demolishes our question 5 argument with verve and savvy
Right now on
Bemsha Swing {click here}
Distribution Automatique
Thursday, May 26
Tuesday, May 24
A Blogland Vogue For Questions
Who knows how fads get started.
When I was a kid there was
always a season for an activity,
but it was hard to tell which
kid ushered in the fad.
There was a skating season where
every kid showed up outside on skates,
there was a bike
season, a handball season,
a stickball season,
a coin collecting season,
a card playing season, a carry around
your new transistor radio
and lean against the cars and
listen to them together season.
Once I even
started a fad in my set for wearing
jackets with bird decals sewed
onto them; it got around further
and lasted longer than I expected.
Anyway, you always did
what the others did, though
some activities might interest
you more than others.
Of course, your favorite
thing would always come back
into vogue eventually.
Well, as you must have noticed,
the same tendency takes place here
in Blogland. We have the take
a test online season (my least
favorite), we will no doubt have
a write a few words on Star Wars
season, we have a write in the
comments section season
(going on right now), and also,
right now, thanks to Sullivan and Gordon
we are noticing a tendency towards
comics (boys) (Gary's and the ever-
popular poetry comic blog of Jim Behrle)
and fashions (girls)-no doubt Nada's
interest in fashion will trigger quite a buzz!
At the present moment in literary
Blogland there is a fad for asking and
answering questions in poetics.
I'm not sure who started it,
but of course it is Ron Silliman's answers to
some set of questions floating around
that bloggers took notice of.
At the moment on *Bemsha Swing*
you will find a set of questions I dare
you to read, if you are a blogger,
and not find at least one
you want to answer on your blog right now.
I read them very late last night, and was
even tempted to get started right
then and there, though I had
just gone through an intensive
grilling of my own, as it happens,
for separate reasons, from a
couple of poet friends. But more
on that later.
Jonathan Mayhew's questions,
(for R.S. and anyone else):
Bemsha Swing {click here}
when looked at together as a group,
probably have a thread. But I
am right now too excited about one of them
to stop and think about that.
More than likely, I have to admit, I am
picking one at random.
My hunch is that, at least
around here, the
fad will continue for days,
and more than likely on many other
blogs, but who knows.
Like kids' seasons, Blogland’s are ephemeral.
Here is the question I picked:
5. Is "total absorption in poetry" benign?
How about "poetry as a way of life"?
After falling asleep last night,
I woke up this morning thinking about things
that go best with this question,
though I have to admit, all of Jonathan's
questions I find intriguing. He is
quite the blog poetics
provocateur, in his own quiet
and unassuming way!
I have a feeling that total absorption in
poetry is not so benign in the (very) long run,
but exhilarating and generative in the short run.
By short run I mean, maybe
a decade. By long run I mean a lifetime.
In my observation, total absorption
in poetry in the long run leads, as
Shakespeare put it, to an early "anecdotage."
One of the reasons I avoided becoming
a poetry professor when I was in
an English honors program in college
is that it seemed to me that even my
most brilliant and favorite professors
appeared to be in a kind of zombie state of
automatic recitation of things they had said
before countless times. In a friend
or lover this state of consciousness
might be boring and difficult to tolerate; but
for a poet, it seemed to my young perception,
this might be deadly, or even lethal.
At least in this one way my insight was prescient.
The tendency to bore other people is a trait
that each and every poet is obliged to
track with the persistence of a terrier. Or
else. Or else, what? You know!
Again: 5. Is "total absorption in poetry" benign?
How about "poetry as a way of life"?
I've noticed that (again, in the long run,
the long run being a lifetime) poets fall
into two types. The first type
writes-and publishes- book
after book without cease, and gives
regular readings the same way.
They never do anything else, and revel in their
total absorption in poetry. The second type
eventually finds other outlets as well for their
energy. On the whole, a distinguishing
characteristic of most (lifetime) poets is
an outstanding access to energy.
Here's where I find it necessary to offer a second
speculation that many other poets
might not agree with. In my opinion:
the inspiration
to write poetry is sporadic.
I think the intuitive inspiration to write a poem, for this
reason, should not be forced.
I found early on that if I forced myself to write poetry,
the result was wooden. The best analogy
that I can think of to writing poems
(never thing of writing "poetry" a sure
danger sign; only write "poems") is creating
melodies. Sit down at your piano or
take out your guitar right now. Try to create
a new melody and you will see what I mean.
Ninety-nine percent or more of your
production will be of two types: the first type
might be usable: a derivative offshoot
of another melody. Actually, this type is
fairly interesting. But most of your production
will be of the second type, the type I call
"noodling around." Listen to a lot of the
classical music literature and be honest:
even among many famous works, there is
tons and tons of noodling around. You will
find this even in such stellar composers as Schubert,
Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn. Haydn is
amazing in this regard; an incredible number
of melodies that are identifiable and distinctive.
The same for incredible Chopin. But
most composers noodle around for a
lot of the time; they noodle
around in an interesting
way, but a lot of what they write
is just kind of, well, noodling around!
You see what I'm getting at;
The same is true for poets.
Most poets who produce book
after book without cease
(I do greatly admire this,
nevertheless, and hugely enjoy
the work of a number of poets
who work this way-including Jordan
Davis' endlessly absorbing blog project
Million Poems {click here}
, where he
has published well over a thousand poems
and extends the genial and impressive offer to write
a poem to order for anyone who emails him!)
do not consistently write
works of the same caliber and intensity
of engagement. What some ambitious poets
do to sustain their engagement with an audience
is - something else! They go "elsewhere" as
Gary Sullivan puts it. Ever noticed how often
interviewers ask well known poets:
"Have you been writing any poetry lately?" Since,
as I said, the majority of poets have abundant
amounts of energy, and since, as I believe to be the case,
actual poetic inspiration is, at best, sporadic, what many do is
try to transfer their unstoppable energy
into another, related medium.
As Emerson put it, "Write one poem and lean on
your oars forever..." Meaning,
writing a poem releases
more energy than can be put
into writing other poems.
Emerson is a fine example
of a poet who found a
way to express the
ingenious products of his mind
in other forms: through essays.
Another example
is the great Italian poet
Cesare Pavese who wrote
novels and a great diary,
as any reader of this
blog will attest, noticing
the many quotes of this literary
journal that have been posted here.
Paul Valery famously
took a twenty year break
from writing poetry to work
on poetics in his journals.
One of the best known example of this
tendency historically is, of course,
Thomas Hardy, whose poetry is read today
only by few scholars. But who among us hasn't
read at least one novel by Thomas Hardy?
*Jude the Obscure*! *The Mayor of Casterbridge*!
Hardy thought of these works as his minor interest.
Only his poems meant anything special to him.
Still today, few can stop with only one!
If you haven't read any you have a major treat in store.
How about Gertrude Stein's many prose works?
More recent examples include:
Allen Ginsberg's photography,
Bernadette Mayer's conceptual
art works and prose poetry, John Ashbery's
and David Shapiro's art criticism (he also makes collages),
Charles Bernstein''s opera
librettos (his *Shadowtime*, an opera about
Walter Benjamin, is being produced at
Lincoln Center this summer) and essays;
David Antin's talks;
Lewis Warsh's novels, Elaine Equi's collaborations
with artists, Bruce Andews' music and
collaborations with dancer Sally Silvers,
Jackson Mac Low's works for dancers,
and his sound and visual poems,
David Bromige's collaborations with David Denner,
the "novels" of Kathy Acker,
the playwriting and genre bending
creations of Carla Harryman;
There is, of course, best known to us, Ron Silliman's blog.
Think of the visual poetry of bloggers Geof Huth and Crag Hill,
Harry Stammer and Jukka-Pekka Kervenin
that offers another fertile and growing
field for poets' exploration and production.
Some poets abandon formal poetry altogether:
notably Marshall Reese and Vito Acconci.
These two became pioneers in video art and
Acconci went on to focus on outdoor sculptural installations.
Question: have they actually
abandoned the field of poetry or have they transmuted it?
Visual poetry is surely coming
to the fore as an acceptable poetic field of investigation.
(The great-grandparent of this work was, of course, Blake,
whose astoundingly beautiful,
brilliant and heroic creations of his own hand printed
illustrated and self-published books was a financial failure).
I was astonished when Ron Silliman recently
complimented Geof Huth's blog
dbqp visualizing poetics {click here}
and made the comment that he might be opening
the most novel new field of endeavor for poetry.
because I can remember a time-long ago- when Ron seemed
somewhat dubious about my interest in making collages
(although I surely could have been reading
in to a comment he made back then).
I have the sense that with poets who
are unable to at least occasionally
transmute their talents and
energies into other media-and even some
who have been able to do this- tend to
become obsessively interested in
cataloguing the data of contemporary poetry.
Poetry as a "way of life", it seems
to me, is a uniquely challenging, difficult proposition,
for the simple reason that there are
so few available public functions to perform.
There is publishing and editing:
Lyn Hejinian, Leslie Scalapino,
Tom Beckett's classic single poet issues
of the journal, *The Difficulties*
Barrett Watten, James Sherry, Douglas Messerli,
Matvei Yankelvich, Peter Ganick,
Juliana Spahr and Jena Osman's excellent
visual/verbal magazine *Chain*
to name but a few; then, of course,
there are the many excellent webzines.
*Sidereality*, *Shampoo*, *Poetic
Inhalation*, all created and posted by poets,
to mention but a handful.
There is running poetry series, witness
the recent energetic efforts of Bob Holman
at his own creation, the Bowery Poetry Club
and the countless coordinators throughout the years..
There is arts administration:
Ed Friedman, Anne Waldman
and coordinating and assisting at
the Poetry Project, right now Anselm Berrigan,
Cori Copp and Miles Champion,
of course many others throughout the years.
And this is only the people who have worked
in New York.
There is cultural and political
transformation through political acts
and organizing- Allen Ginsberg
and Leroi Jones;
essay writing and teaching: Bob Perelman,
Robert Creeley, who also worked on
many great collaborations with artists
such as Archie Rand and Susan Rothenberg;
drawing-Robert Grenier;
Jerome Sala, in additiion to publishing
his poetry, lately his witty ,social/politically insightful
*Look Slimmer Instantly* (Softskull, 2005)
has worked forever at a full time job in marketing/advertising
and is now completing, at the same time, a
Ph D at NYU in Cultural Studies,
the program created and administered by Andrew Ross.
Let me say that it is easier
to make a loving at
poetry than it is to make a
living at it, to say the least!
As a "way of life" people interested
in this field are well advised to find
additional avenues thorugh which to
connect with others that utilizes their
proclivity for aesthetic inspiration,
their "lust for life" you might say, in an allied field.
The growing cultural phenomenon of
poetry creation is, in a sense,
a form of momentum tending to
mount vertically, so to speak,
with little horizontal expansion
into the culture at large.
What scholars, cultural commentators
like Walter Benjamin and poets realize, looking back
historically, however,
is that it remains a powerful, crucial, albeit,
largely subliminal cultural intervention.
If you examine history you will see that
there is a clear tendency for poets, as they
age, to become discouraged about the
possibilities for career in poetry.
Not so long ago I read the
Journals of Stephen Spender
(beautiful book, by the way).
Now here was a famous
poet
("I think continually of those/
who were truly great")
who, having written in addition to his many
volumes of poetry,
countless books including a critical study of
TS Eliot and a book about the cultural phenomena of the Sixties,
who was an editor of a magazine (*Horizon*),
and a teacher with immensely wide and varied interests.
Yet Spender's final years were an
emotional misery. He was constantly trying
to find adjunct teaching jobs wherever he
could and spent much of his later
years apparently quite depressed.
I don't want to dwell on this topic,
but history abounds with similar episodes.
In dealing with the ebb and flow of
poetic inspiration, as in all things, there
is a Scylla and Charybdis.
There is the Scylla of neglecting one's muse
and a Charybdis of becoming her slave.
A poet is well advised to
remain alert in guiding the
ship of life among the reefs and seductions
and quick sands that plague the currents
of a poetry "career": if, indeed, there is such a thing,
per se.
Who knows how fads get started.
When I was a kid there was
always a season for an activity,
but it was hard to tell which
kid ushered in the fad.
There was a skating season where
every kid showed up outside on skates,
there was a bike
season, a handball season,
a stickball season,
a coin collecting season,
a card playing season, a carry around
your new transistor radio
and lean against the cars and
listen to them together season.
Once I even
started a fad in my set for wearing
jackets with bird decals sewed
onto them; it got around further
and lasted longer than I expected.
Anyway, you always did
what the others did, though
some activities might interest
you more than others.
Of course, your favorite
thing would always come back
into vogue eventually.
Well, as you must have noticed,
the same tendency takes place here
in Blogland. We have the take
a test online season (my least
favorite), we will no doubt have
a write a few words on Star Wars
season, we have a write in the
comments section season
(going on right now), and also,
right now, thanks to Sullivan and Gordon
we are noticing a tendency towards
comics (boys) (Gary's and the ever-
popular poetry comic blog of Jim Behrle)
and fashions (girls)-no doubt Nada's
interest in fashion will trigger quite a buzz!
At the present moment in literary
Blogland there is a fad for asking and
answering questions in poetics.
I'm not sure who started it,
but of course it is Ron Silliman's answers to
some set of questions floating around
that bloggers took notice of.
At the moment on *Bemsha Swing*
you will find a set of questions I dare
you to read, if you are a blogger,
and not find at least one
you want to answer on your blog right now.
I read them very late last night, and was
even tempted to get started right
then and there, though I had
just gone through an intensive
grilling of my own, as it happens,
for separate reasons, from a
couple of poet friends. But more
on that later.
Jonathan Mayhew's questions,
(for R.S. and anyone else):
Bemsha Swing {click here}
when looked at together as a group,
probably have a thread. But I
am right now too excited about one of them
to stop and think about that.
More than likely, I have to admit, I am
picking one at random.
My hunch is that, at least
around here, the
fad will continue for days,
and more than likely on many other
blogs, but who knows.
Like kids' seasons, Blogland’s are ephemeral.
Here is the question I picked:
5. Is "total absorption in poetry" benign?
How about "poetry as a way of life"?
After falling asleep last night,
I woke up this morning thinking about things
that go best with this question,
though I have to admit, all of Jonathan's
questions I find intriguing. He is
quite the blog poetics
provocateur, in his own quiet
and unassuming way!
I have a feeling that total absorption in
poetry is not so benign in the (very) long run,
but exhilarating and generative in the short run.
By short run I mean, maybe
a decade. By long run I mean a lifetime.
In my observation, total absorption
in poetry in the long run leads, as
Shakespeare put it, to an early "anecdotage."
One of the reasons I avoided becoming
a poetry professor when I was in
an English honors program in college
is that it seemed to me that even my
most brilliant and favorite professors
appeared to be in a kind of zombie state of
automatic recitation of things they had said
before countless times. In a friend
or lover this state of consciousness
might be boring and difficult to tolerate; but
for a poet, it seemed to my young perception,
this might be deadly, or even lethal.
At least in this one way my insight was prescient.
The tendency to bore other people is a trait
that each and every poet is obliged to
track with the persistence of a terrier. Or
else. Or else, what? You know!
Again: 5. Is "total absorption in poetry" benign?
How about "poetry as a way of life"?
I've noticed that (again, in the long run,
the long run being a lifetime) poets fall
into two types. The first type
writes-and publishes- book
after book without cease, and gives
regular readings the same way.
They never do anything else, and revel in their
total absorption in poetry. The second type
eventually finds other outlets as well for their
energy. On the whole, a distinguishing
characteristic of most (lifetime) poets is
an outstanding access to energy.
Here's where I find it necessary to offer a second
speculation that many other poets
might not agree with. In my opinion:
the inspiration
to write poetry is sporadic.
I think the intuitive inspiration to write a poem, for this
reason, should not be forced.
I found early on that if I forced myself to write poetry,
the result was wooden. The best analogy
that I can think of to writing poems
(never thing of writing "poetry" a sure
danger sign; only write "poems") is creating
melodies. Sit down at your piano or
take out your guitar right now. Try to create
a new melody and you will see what I mean.
Ninety-nine percent or more of your
production will be of two types: the first type
might be usable: a derivative offshoot
of another melody. Actually, this type is
fairly interesting. But most of your production
will be of the second type, the type I call
"noodling around." Listen to a lot of the
classical music literature and be honest:
even among many famous works, there is
tons and tons of noodling around. You will
find this even in such stellar composers as Schubert,
Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn. Haydn is
amazing in this regard; an incredible number
of melodies that are identifiable and distinctive.
The same for incredible Chopin. But
most composers noodle around for a
lot of the time; they noodle
around in an interesting
way, but a lot of what they write
is just kind of, well, noodling around!
You see what I'm getting at;
The same is true for poets.
Most poets who produce book
after book without cease
(I do greatly admire this,
nevertheless, and hugely enjoy
the work of a number of poets
who work this way-including Jordan
Davis' endlessly absorbing blog project
Million Poems {click here}
, where he
has published well over a thousand poems
and extends the genial and impressive offer to write
a poem to order for anyone who emails him!)
do not consistently write
works of the same caliber and intensity
of engagement. What some ambitious poets
do to sustain their engagement with an audience
is - something else! They go "elsewhere" as
Gary Sullivan puts it. Ever noticed how often
interviewers ask well known poets:
"Have you been writing any poetry lately?" Since,
as I said, the majority of poets have abundant
amounts of energy, and since, as I believe to be the case,
actual poetic inspiration is, at best, sporadic, what many do is
try to transfer their unstoppable energy
into another, related medium.
As Emerson put it, "Write one poem and lean on
your oars forever..." Meaning,
writing a poem releases
more energy than can be put
into writing other poems.
Emerson is a fine example
of a poet who found a
way to express the
ingenious products of his mind
in other forms: through essays.
Another example
is the great Italian poet
Cesare Pavese who wrote
novels and a great diary,
as any reader of this
blog will attest, noticing
the many quotes of this literary
journal that have been posted here.
Paul Valery famously
took a twenty year break
from writing poetry to work
on poetics in his journals.
One of the best known example of this
tendency historically is, of course,
Thomas Hardy, whose poetry is read today
only by few scholars. But who among us hasn't
read at least one novel by Thomas Hardy?
*Jude the Obscure*! *The Mayor of Casterbridge*!
Hardy thought of these works as his minor interest.
Only his poems meant anything special to him.
Still today, few can stop with only one!
If you haven't read any you have a major treat in store.
How about Gertrude Stein's many prose works?
More recent examples include:
Allen Ginsberg's photography,
Bernadette Mayer's conceptual
art works and prose poetry, John Ashbery's
and David Shapiro's art criticism (he also makes collages),
Charles Bernstein''s opera
librettos (his *Shadowtime*, an opera about
Walter Benjamin, is being produced at
Lincoln Center this summer) and essays;
David Antin's talks;
Lewis Warsh's novels, Elaine Equi's collaborations
with artists, Bruce Andews' music and
collaborations with dancer Sally Silvers,
Jackson Mac Low's works for dancers,
and his sound and visual poems,
David Bromige's collaborations with David Denner,
the "novels" of Kathy Acker,
the playwriting and genre bending
creations of Carla Harryman;
There is, of course, best known to us, Ron Silliman's blog.
Think of the visual poetry of bloggers Geof Huth and Crag Hill,
Harry Stammer and Jukka-Pekka Kervenin
that offers another fertile and growing
field for poets' exploration and production.
Some poets abandon formal poetry altogether:
notably Marshall Reese and Vito Acconci.
These two became pioneers in video art and
Acconci went on to focus on outdoor sculptural installations.
Question: have they actually
abandoned the field of poetry or have they transmuted it?
Visual poetry is surely coming
to the fore as an acceptable poetic field of investigation.
(The great-grandparent of this work was, of course, Blake,
whose astoundingly beautiful,
brilliant and heroic creations of his own hand printed
illustrated and self-published books was a financial failure).
I was astonished when Ron Silliman recently
complimented Geof Huth's blog
dbqp visualizing poetics {click here}
and made the comment that he might be opening
the most novel new field of endeavor for poetry.
because I can remember a time-long ago- when Ron seemed
somewhat dubious about my interest in making collages
(although I surely could have been reading
in to a comment he made back then).
I have the sense that with poets who
are unable to at least occasionally
transmute their talents and
energies into other media-and even some
who have been able to do this- tend to
become obsessively interested in
cataloguing the data of contemporary poetry.
Poetry as a "way of life", it seems
to me, is a uniquely challenging, difficult proposition,
for the simple reason that there are
so few available public functions to perform.
There is publishing and editing:
Lyn Hejinian, Leslie Scalapino,
Tom Beckett's classic single poet issues
of the journal, *The Difficulties*
Barrett Watten, James Sherry, Douglas Messerli,
Matvei Yankelvich, Peter Ganick,
Juliana Spahr and Jena Osman's excellent
visual/verbal magazine *Chain*
to name but a few; then, of course,
there are the many excellent webzines.
*Sidereality*, *Shampoo*, *Poetic
Inhalation*, all created and posted by poets,
to mention but a handful.
There is running poetry series, witness
the recent energetic efforts of Bob Holman
at his own creation, the Bowery Poetry Club
and the countless coordinators throughout the years..
There is arts administration:
Ed Friedman, Anne Waldman
and coordinating and assisting at
the Poetry Project, right now Anselm Berrigan,
Cori Copp and Miles Champion,
of course many others throughout the years.
And this is only the people who have worked
in New York.
There is cultural and political
transformation through political acts
and organizing- Allen Ginsberg
and Leroi Jones;
essay writing and teaching: Bob Perelman,
Robert Creeley, who also worked on
many great collaborations with artists
such as Archie Rand and Susan Rothenberg;
drawing-Robert Grenier;
Jerome Sala, in additiion to publishing
his poetry, lately his witty ,social/politically insightful
*Look Slimmer Instantly* (Softskull, 2005)
has worked forever at a full time job in marketing/advertising
and is now completing, at the same time, a
Ph D at NYU in Cultural Studies,
the program created and administered by Andrew Ross.
Let me say that it is easier
to make a loving at
poetry than it is to make a
living at it, to say the least!
As a "way of life" people interested
in this field are well advised to find
additional avenues thorugh which to
connect with others that utilizes their
proclivity for aesthetic inspiration,
their "lust for life" you might say, in an allied field.
The growing cultural phenomenon of
poetry creation is, in a sense,
a form of momentum tending to
mount vertically, so to speak,
with little horizontal expansion
into the culture at large.
What scholars, cultural commentators
like Walter Benjamin and poets realize, looking back
historically, however,
is that it remains a powerful, crucial, albeit,
largely subliminal cultural intervention.
If you examine history you will see that
there is a clear tendency for poets, as they
age, to become discouraged about the
possibilities for career in poetry.
Not so long ago I read the
Journals of Stephen Spender
(beautiful book, by the way).
Now here was a famous
poet
("I think continually of those/
who were truly great")
who, having written in addition to his many
volumes of poetry,
countless books including a critical study of
TS Eliot and a book about the cultural phenomena of the Sixties,
who was an editor of a magazine (*Horizon*),
and a teacher with immensely wide and varied interests.
Yet Spender's final years were an
emotional misery. He was constantly trying
to find adjunct teaching jobs wherever he
could and spent much of his later
years apparently quite depressed.
I don't want to dwell on this topic,
but history abounds with similar episodes.
In dealing with the ebb and flow of
poetic inspiration, as in all things, there
is a Scylla and Charybdis.
There is the Scylla of neglecting one's muse
and a Charybdis of becoming her slave.
A poet is well advised to
remain alert in guiding the
ship of life among the reefs and seductions
and quick sands that plague the currents
of a poetry "career": if, indeed, there is such a thing,
per se.
Monday, May 23
Monday, May 16
Art and Friends On A Serendipitous Sunday
Naps and strolls in Prospect Park on that lovely sunny Saturday (remember?)
prepared us well for the rigors of an art-filled Sunday in Queens. If you haven't
been out there lately, you must go soon! We began the day with a visit to our friend
Jean's gorgeous new studio-
Saturday was open studio day in this sunny,
beautifully designed collection of studios
at Jevenal Reis Studios- 43-01 22cd Street
(E or V train to 23rd St./Ely Ave.
#7 to 45th Road/Courthouse Square
G to Court Square)
(you take the same train to get to MOMA's PS 1
but after leaving the subway walk the opposite
direction to get to Jeval Reis Studios)-
walk north on 23rd Street (under the train
tracks) make a left on 44th Avenue
and right on 22 Street
Jean Foos
Images {click here}
In addition to work similar to the work you may view by clicking above,
Jean Foos has some exciting new work that includes printed fashion photos
which she has appropriated and painted over in her signature style.
You must see these witty and elegant works;
I hope she posts them on her site soon. Even better, we would love
to see them in a gallery & we wouldn't be at all suprised if a clever
curator saw this show and scooped them up!
From there we walked over to an opening at the Sculpture Center
for the grand opening of the Sculpture Center's new show
*Make It Now* a title with some double-edged meanings I thought
about a bit as we walked through this relatively recent site for new sculpture.
28 artists are shown here. The first floor is well worth the visit, even if only to
see the space if you haven't been here before. I should have been prepared
for the many synchroncities tha occurred on this Queens visit when I
realized that my favorite work in this show was by Charlie Foos!
This was a video he titled "Monument with Anthem". Probably it is the artist
who is sitting on a coin operated rocking horse in front of fairly delapidated
storefront. He is holding what is very likely a plastic or cardboard shield and
lance; an ancient cassette player sits on a pedestal playing Wagner's Sigfried Idyll
over and over- the tape skips and slows and speeds; the artist stares somewhat
glumly into the camera, while again and again he puts coins into the box so
that he can keep that wooden horse rocking. This work attraced me because
in addition to participating in the current plethora of works of art reflecting
and celebrating childhood (contemporary artists seemed determine to keep
their connection with their imaginations clear by holding on securely to those
fleeting freedoms -of thought and dream-of early life) this artist found a way
to gently laugh at himself and this trend towards cheap and simple materials,
toys and structures based on childhood pleasures. As I walked through the
show I marvelled at the almost total triumph of the artistic credos of such
contemporary giants as Richard Tuttle- whose philosophy of using inexpensive
materials in spontaneous and direct ways seems to now be pervasive among
younger artists- easily eclipsing the sculptural requirements of other ages demanding
such materials as marble, bronze and gleaming metals. The only exception to
this rule I have noted is in works like those of Timothy Hawkinson which require
extensive construction and use of electronic or electric machinery and gadgetry;
still, often in the case even of this work, artists like Charlie Foos stick to found
or discarded gadgets.
As we left the Sculpture Center lucky for us we ran into our friends, the poet
and art critic Connie Robins and her husband the sculptor Sal Romano.
Sal is known for his large sculptural installations employing metal constructions
and water. Recently at a visit to his studio I marvelled at a -for him- tiny work
which combined figurative and abstract elements, including a fish and triangles.
Sal and Connie decided to join us for a bit on our second visit to the giant
Greater New York 2005 show discussed below. On the way in we noticed that
a number of artists were carrying out large frames containing obviously recently ripped
paper with calligraphic type designs. As we entered the museum we ran into our
friend Jay Sanders, one of the curatorial assistants at the Maryann Boesky Gallery.
He and I chatted a bit about the current Sarah Sze show at Boesky (see sidebar)
and the fact that these ripped frames were used by a dance friend of his for a
performance that was ending at the very moment we walked in! Jay helped
Charles Bernstein curate the Poetry Plastique show we had the good fortune
to be part of in February 2001.
On this vist I remembered a number of works I saw the first time around and
really enjoyed. Sal also pointed out a couple that I had missed! Among these
was a hilarious peformance installation by Jamie Isenstein. Sal called me
over to an inset frame hung on the wall with what appeared to be a
plastic or molded hand inside. Sal said "Wait and watch." After a few moments
the hand moved! Then after awhile it moved again! We all discussed whether it
was real and hesitated awhile and then touched it. Surely this was the living hand
of a woman- obviously the artist. Hurrying over to the wall label I noticed it said
"2003 Performance Installation with picture frame, picture light and hand- or "Will Return"
sign." Ha-ha! What a piece. When we visited the neighboring room we saw the door
where the artist could be let in to sit. Sal wondered what she might be doing
in there- watching videos- drinking a coke- who knows? In another room Sal pointed
out a piece I had walked right by last week without noticing and walked right by
again on Sunday. Karyn Oliver has installed a false vertical column right next to
a real horizontal column on the ceiling of this gallery room. The column sits on top
of an antique brown wooden coffee table right in the center of the room. More
artistic hijinx and hilarity- excellent! Another double-take type work that I noticed
on the first visit but forgot take notes on is Courtney Smith's marvelous "Psyche
Complexo" (2003) owned by the artist and Roebling Hall. This impressive work
lists the following constituants: I wardrobe, 1 vanity with mirror, 1 stool with cushion,
2 side tables with mirrors, and new chrome plated hardware. In this piece, the furniture
is split in two and rehinged together creating a mysterious and claustrophobic effect,
indeed capable of well representing complex psychological states,
redolant with associations and "remembrance of things past." Another visit to
Aida Rulova's DVD projection with sound installation "It had no feelings" (2003)
convinced both Toni and I that this was among the best works. The altered voice
track repeats a story of what must have been a psychological trauma, repeated
again and again- the visual part shows faces hidden in light and the repeated
phrase "a bag over my head" suggests a terrifying experience. This is a must see and
hear! A return visit to Anna Conway's startling painting discussed and linked to
below revealed two tiny rowboats near the huge puppet head floating in the ocean.
We liked the painting on this visit even more. The DVD concerning the violinist mentioned
below was by King/Diaz de Leon and was filmed in digital video 2003-2004. We watched
the entire approximately 8 minute piece through in its entirety again! Two more
paintings definitely worth checking out:
Wade Guyton's {click here}
"untitled" 2005- a striking
constructivist style painting -inkjet on printed linen 39'x 37" and Lisi Raskin's "In
The Town Where I Was Born" (2004- Guild and Grayshkul Gallery)- a room full
of computer and electronic gadgetry is depicted mostly in bright yellows using
crayons and colored markers, another of the many memorable works
in this show echoing and recalling childhood. Another of the many excellent
projected DVD's in this show that must be mentioned is Nebojsa Seric Shoba's
eerie "Let There Be Light" depicting computer animations looking very much like
the creation of the world via mud slides. On the second floor don't forget to see
and listen to David Moreno's subtle 2004 electronic music in his work "Steremo*. The
piece is beautifully placed in front of a window with view of the sky and an old
adjacent brick building. The speakers, mounted on bending metal supports,
wave and bob as the music emerges giving the impression that you can physically
see the sounds. This is a theme in a good number of the pieces in this
show- various types of synesthesia. Throughout this show there are many pieces
placed so that you might discover them in surprising ways in this enormous
space with so many windows, corners, and stairways. Bethany Bristow's
aptly named "Insinutate" i(2005) is constructed of multiple site specific materials
including melted glass, feathers and corn syrup is placed inconspicuously on
a gallery window ledge in a hallway on the second floor. And, as we were leaving
the show I noticed again and remembered being stuck by on the first visit,
outside the gallery on a large ledge in front of a window, Bozidar Brazda's surprising
and frightening piece made out of a dummy lying down on the ledge and a parachute
lying nearby, blowing open and closing probably by means of a wind machine placed
nearby- this work suggested to me the breathless excitements- and severe risks-
of the artist who must jump into the unknown to achieve his or her discoveries-
and who, like all of us, must someday return to the ground beneath their feet after
their extravagant flights into the stratosphere of the imagination.
After this we headed downtown to our favorite restaurant the Orlin Cafe
on East 8th Street. And who walks by after a bit? Two poet friends, Mike
Scharf and Drew Gardner, We talked about the show (Drew decided
he did not want to read these notes before seeing ths show). We had
a chance to chat with Drew about movies, his workshop at the
Poetry Project and the fact that he is now working on putting together a CD
(hopefully to be heard soon on My Vocabulary) of my reading at the BPC with
Lee Anne Brown and Ange Mlinko and Drew's Poetics Orchestra. This
was indeed a serendipitous ending to our Sunday of Art- serendipity
which extended to quickly catching the Q home to Park Slope so
we could grab a quick bite and as quickly crash
into bed exhausted. Strangely, I dreamt
of a strikingly actual Paul Auster giving me advice about publishers!
Naps and strolls in Prospect Park on that lovely sunny Saturday (remember?)
prepared us well for the rigors of an art-filled Sunday in Queens. If you haven't
been out there lately, you must go soon! We began the day with a visit to our friend
Jean's gorgeous new studio-
Saturday was open studio day in this sunny,
beautifully designed collection of studios
at Jevenal Reis Studios- 43-01 22cd Street
(E or V train to 23rd St./Ely Ave.
#7 to 45th Road/Courthouse Square
G to Court Square)
(you take the same train to get to MOMA's PS 1
but after leaving the subway walk the opposite
direction to get to Jeval Reis Studios)-
walk north on 23rd Street (under the train
tracks) make a left on 44th Avenue
and right on 22 Street
Jean Foos
Images {click here}
In addition to work similar to the work you may view by clicking above,
Jean Foos has some exciting new work that includes printed fashion photos
which she has appropriated and painted over in her signature style.
You must see these witty and elegant works;
I hope she posts them on her site soon. Even better, we would love
to see them in a gallery & we wouldn't be at all suprised if a clever
curator saw this show and scooped them up!
From there we walked over to an opening at the Sculpture Center
for the grand opening of the Sculpture Center's new show
*Make It Now* a title with some double-edged meanings I thought
about a bit as we walked through this relatively recent site for new sculpture.
28 artists are shown here. The first floor is well worth the visit, even if only to
see the space if you haven't been here before. I should have been prepared
for the many synchroncities tha occurred on this Queens visit when I
realized that my favorite work in this show was by Charlie Foos!
This was a video he titled "Monument with Anthem". Probably it is the artist
who is sitting on a coin operated rocking horse in front of fairly delapidated
storefront. He is holding what is very likely a plastic or cardboard shield and
lance; an ancient cassette player sits on a pedestal playing Wagner's Sigfried Idyll
over and over- the tape skips and slows and speeds; the artist stares somewhat
glumly into the camera, while again and again he puts coins into the box so
that he can keep that wooden horse rocking. This work attraced me because
in addition to participating in the current plethora of works of art reflecting
and celebrating childhood (contemporary artists seemed determine to keep
their connection with their imaginations clear by holding on securely to those
fleeting freedoms -of thought and dream-of early life) this artist found a way
to gently laugh at himself and this trend towards cheap and simple materials,
toys and structures based on childhood pleasures. As I walked through the
show I marvelled at the almost total triumph of the artistic credos of such
contemporary giants as Richard Tuttle- whose philosophy of using inexpensive
materials in spontaneous and direct ways seems to now be pervasive among
younger artists- easily eclipsing the sculptural requirements of other ages demanding
such materials as marble, bronze and gleaming metals. The only exception to
this rule I have noted is in works like those of Timothy Hawkinson which require
extensive construction and use of electronic or electric machinery and gadgetry;
still, often in the case even of this work, artists like Charlie Foos stick to found
or discarded gadgets.
As we left the Sculpture Center lucky for us we ran into our friends, the poet
and art critic Connie Robins and her husband the sculptor Sal Romano.
Sal is known for his large sculptural installations employing metal constructions
and water. Recently at a visit to his studio I marvelled at a -for him- tiny work
which combined figurative and abstract elements, including a fish and triangles.
Sal and Connie decided to join us for a bit on our second visit to the giant
Greater New York 2005 show discussed below. On the way in we noticed that
a number of artists were carrying out large frames containing obviously recently ripped
paper with calligraphic type designs. As we entered the museum we ran into our
friend Jay Sanders, one of the curatorial assistants at the Maryann Boesky Gallery.
He and I chatted a bit about the current Sarah Sze show at Boesky (see sidebar)
and the fact that these ripped frames were used by a dance friend of his for a
performance that was ending at the very moment we walked in! Jay helped
Charles Bernstein curate the Poetry Plastique show we had the good fortune
to be part of in February 2001.
On this vist I remembered a number of works I saw the first time around and
really enjoyed. Sal also pointed out a couple that I had missed! Among these
was a hilarious peformance installation by Jamie Isenstein. Sal called me
over to an inset frame hung on the wall with what appeared to be a
plastic or molded hand inside. Sal said "Wait and watch." After a few moments
the hand moved! Then after awhile it moved again! We all discussed whether it
was real and hesitated awhile and then touched it. Surely this was the living hand
of a woman- obviously the artist. Hurrying over to the wall label I noticed it said
"2003 Performance Installation with picture frame, picture light and hand- or "Will Return"
sign." Ha-ha! What a piece. When we visited the neighboring room we saw the door
where the artist could be let in to sit. Sal wondered what she might be doing
in there- watching videos- drinking a coke- who knows? In another room Sal pointed
out a piece I had walked right by last week without noticing and walked right by
again on Sunday. Karyn Oliver has installed a false vertical column right next to
a real horizontal column on the ceiling of this gallery room. The column sits on top
of an antique brown wooden coffee table right in the center of the room. More
artistic hijinx and hilarity- excellent! Another double-take type work that I noticed
on the first visit but forgot take notes on is Courtney Smith's marvelous "Psyche
Complexo" (2003) owned by the artist and Roebling Hall. This impressive work
lists the following constituants: I wardrobe, 1 vanity with mirror, 1 stool with cushion,
2 side tables with mirrors, and new chrome plated hardware. In this piece, the furniture
is split in two and rehinged together creating a mysterious and claustrophobic effect,
indeed capable of well representing complex psychological states,
redolant with associations and "remembrance of things past." Another visit to
Aida Rulova's DVD projection with sound installation "It had no feelings" (2003)
convinced both Toni and I that this was among the best works. The altered voice
track repeats a story of what must have been a psychological trauma, repeated
again and again- the visual part shows faces hidden in light and the repeated
phrase "a bag over my head" suggests a terrifying experience. This is a must see and
hear! A return visit to Anna Conway's startling painting discussed and linked to
below revealed two tiny rowboats near the huge puppet head floating in the ocean.
We liked the painting on this visit even more. The DVD concerning the violinist mentioned
below was by King/Diaz de Leon and was filmed in digital video 2003-2004. We watched
the entire approximately 8 minute piece through in its entirety again! Two more
paintings definitely worth checking out:
Wade Guyton's {click here}
"untitled" 2005- a striking
constructivist style painting -inkjet on printed linen 39'x 37" and Lisi Raskin's "In
The Town Where I Was Born" (2004- Guild and Grayshkul Gallery)- a room full
of computer and electronic gadgetry is depicted mostly in bright yellows using
crayons and colored markers, another of the many memorable works
in this show echoing and recalling childhood. Another of the many excellent
projected DVD's in this show that must be mentioned is Nebojsa Seric Shoba's
eerie "Let There Be Light" depicting computer animations looking very much like
the creation of the world via mud slides. On the second floor don't forget to see
and listen to David Moreno's subtle 2004 electronic music in his work "Steremo*. The
piece is beautifully placed in front of a window with view of the sky and an old
adjacent brick building. The speakers, mounted on bending metal supports,
wave and bob as the music emerges giving the impression that you can physically
see the sounds. This is a theme in a good number of the pieces in this
show- various types of synesthesia. Throughout this show there are many pieces
placed so that you might discover them in surprising ways in this enormous
space with so many windows, corners, and stairways. Bethany Bristow's
aptly named "Insinutate" i(2005) is constructed of multiple site specific materials
including melted glass, feathers and corn syrup is placed inconspicuously on
a gallery window ledge in a hallway on the second floor. And, as we were leaving
the show I noticed again and remembered being stuck by on the first visit,
outside the gallery on a large ledge in front of a window, Bozidar Brazda's surprising
and frightening piece made out of a dummy lying down on the ledge and a parachute
lying nearby, blowing open and closing probably by means of a wind machine placed
nearby- this work suggested to me the breathless excitements- and severe risks-
of the artist who must jump into the unknown to achieve his or her discoveries-
and who, like all of us, must someday return to the ground beneath their feet after
their extravagant flights into the stratosphere of the imagination.
After this we headed downtown to our favorite restaurant the Orlin Cafe
on East 8th Street. And who walks by after a bit? Two poet friends, Mike
Scharf and Drew Gardner, We talked about the show (Drew decided
he did not want to read these notes before seeing ths show). We had
a chance to chat with Drew about movies, his workshop at the
Poetry Project and the fact that he is now working on putting together a CD
(hopefully to be heard soon on My Vocabulary) of my reading at the BPC with
Lee Anne Brown and Ange Mlinko and Drew's Poetics Orchestra. This
was indeed a serendipitous ending to our Sunday of Art- serendipity
which extended to quickly catching the Q home to Park Slope so
we could grab a quick bite and as quickly crash
into bed exhausted. Strangely, I dreamt
of a strikingly actual Paul Auster giving me advice about publishers!
Saturday, May 14
Anything You Can Do
the conversation continues....
Crowing, boasting, workshop critiques, MFA programs, fame, success and more on
Poesy Galore {click here}
the conversation continues....
Crowing, boasting, workshop critiques, MFA programs, fame, success and more on
Poesy Galore {click here}
*Writing is a fine thing*
"Writing is a fine thing, because it combines the two
pleasures of talking to yourself and talking to a crowd.
If you were able to write without making any alteration,
without revising, without republishing, would your
pleasure be increased? The ideal method is to polish yourself;
calmly and quietly to set about making yourself into a crystal."
Cesare Pavese
May 4, 1946
*The Burning Brand: Diaries 1935-1950*
Walker and Company, 1961
translated by A, E, Murch
"Writing is a fine thing, because it combines the two
pleasures of talking to yourself and talking to a crowd.
If you were able to write without making any alteration,
without revising, without republishing, would your
pleasure be increased? The ideal method is to polish yourself;
calmly and quietly to set about making yourself into a crystal."
Cesare Pavese
May 4, 1946
*The Burning Brand: Diaries 1935-1950*
Walker and Company, 1961
translated by A, E, Murch
Thursday, May 12
Don't Fence Me In
Greg Perry (Grapez) opines on poet ranking and hierarchies
*********************************************************************
The Blogger's Code
The discussion continues on
Tympan {click here}
Greg Perry (Grapez) opines on poet ranking and hierarchies
*********************************************************************
The Blogger's Code
The discussion continues on
Tympan {click here}
Envy Eclipsed: Poesy Galore on Competition
Poesy Galore {kick here}
************************************************
Bemsha Swing continues to host a discussion on the virtues of poetry criticism by poets
Bemsha Swing {click here}
Poesy Galore {kick here}
************************************************
Bemsha Swing continues to host a discussion on the virtues of poetry criticism by poets
Bemsha Swing {click here}
Wednesday, May 11
Poet, Be Not Proud
Interesting discussions about blogging, poetry, poet's
reputations and criticism over at Jonathan Mayhew's
Bemsha Swing {click here} and Timothy Yu's
Tympan {click here}. The comments sections are smokin'!
Anyway, we bloggers seemed to have gotten all hepped up about something or other
late at night. Hope you will check it out!
**********************************************
Singin' In The Rain
The latest interview on
E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S {click here} between
Mark Young and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen is a collaborative
poem in itself, chock full of information about this
excellent poet's ideas and ways of working.
***********************************************
If you haven't seen it yet, please don't miss our review below of
Greater New York 2005, the 160 artist group show now
on at MOMA's PS1 in Long Island City...
Interesting discussions about blogging, poetry, poet's
reputations and criticism over at Jonathan Mayhew's
Bemsha Swing {click here} and Timothy Yu's
Tympan {click here}. The comments sections are smokin'!
Anyway, we bloggers seemed to have gotten all hepped up about something or other
late at night. Hope you will check it out!
**********************************************
Singin' In The Rain
The latest interview on
E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S {click here} between
Mark Young and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen is a collaborative
poem in itself, chock full of information about this
excellent poet's ideas and ways of working.
***********************************************
If you haven't seen it yet, please don't miss our review below of
Greater New York 2005, the 160 artist group show now
on at MOMA's PS1 in Long Island City...
Sunday, May 8
Saturday Double Feature
Toni had the idea yesterday that if were going to
go to Flux Factory to -hopefully- meet Grant
Bailie- at the Novel launch party at 7pm-
we might as well also go to PS 1 to see
Greater New York 2005- 160 New York
artists who have "emerged" since 2000-
which was nearby. This turned out to be a prescient
idea as Flux Factory was anything but easy to
get to. Our cab driver managed to barely
miss going over the Queensboro Bridge twice
trying to locate the Flux Factory. But we
did locate it in plenty of time. We also managed
to find the nearest N Train subway stop after
leaving the Flux Factory party. But Toni was
damn mad we didn't get a cab out of there!
We were disappointed to have to miss
Stan Apps and Douglas Rothschild at
the Bowery Poetry Club. Hopefully, another
blogger has filed- or will- file a reading report
on what must have been a dynamite reading!
Well, we did get to meet Grant Bailie-
and we do have good news. Here's a treat
for ::fait accompli:: readers. Two of the *Novel*
writers- so far- Grant Bailie and Laurie
Stone- have opened blogs in which they
promise to post excerpts of their novels.
These blogs are
Grant Bailie Novel Blogspot {click here}
and
Laurie Stone Novel Blogspot {click here}
After going to the blockbuster
Greater New York 2005 {click here}
we did get to meet Grant Bailie and Ranbir Sidhu
at the Flux Factory Launch. As Grant mentioned
in the interview below, he was anxious to get
started on the project. Flux Factory is a loft
building in Long Island City near Northern
Blvd where 15 artists and writers-in-residents
live and do their work. We were very pleased
to meet Grant- and Ranbir Sidhu at the launch party.
We're sure many - if not all of you- have had the
experience of meeting someone online and
finally getting to meet them in person. After a little bit of
party type waiting around, it was
a sheer delight to meet Grant- and Ranbir Sidhu.
We had spotted Grant chatting with someone
in the corner and fortunately had seen his photo
in the aforementioned interview (see below).
Fortunately we didn't need to ask him a whole
lot of questions about the project
that had already been fully answered in this very
recent interview (Grant was surprised to hear
it was already online). But we did find out that
the Flux Factory novelists involved in this project
can't leave the Factory- for long- for the entire month! Pretty
strict rules. We'll be following this project closely
here on ::fait accompli::. Best of luck to Grant
and to the other novelists participating in this
adventurous- and very rigorous- experiment in writing!
Can't resist mentioning that wandering around looking
for something to eat after visiting the amazing PS 1
massive group show we found an
excellent French restaurant in the
middle of this relatively deserted Queens area.
It is called *Tournesol* and it is located at
50-12 Vernon Blvd- but this won't help you find
it after visiting PS 1. We suggest calling for
instructions- and maybe even reservations
(we got there early but we were lucky to get a table)
(#7 train to Vernon-Jackson stop)
(718) 472-4355. Cool place.
*****************************************************
The PS 1 show is fortunately up until September 26.
We'll say right off the bat that we have never heard
Toni say she wanted to return to a group
show right after seeing one before this.
But even with several hours it was impossible to cover
this entire show. We hurriedly scribbled down a few
notes but missed the name on our favorite video in
the show- a video of a violin performance that is transformed
into a complex and rapidly mutating film, doubling and
quadrupling the image of the violinist along with constantly
accelerating the film and the music!
Here are a few favorites:
Oliver Michaels lyrical *Train* (2003-2004)
originally shown at the Shoshana Wayne Gallery.
This is a 13 minute film. The observer is a passenger
on a little train riding along the floor of a room which
disappears again and again into tiny mouse-hole
tunnels in the floorboards of the rooms only to emerge
into another room or somewhere in the surrounding
area.
Anna Conway's stunning 2001 35"x 48" painting
titled *October 17th, 41 degrees 46 minutes
N. 70 degrees 31 minutes W.* The painting
depicts four puppet heads floating in a whirling ocean
storm, with a searchboat casting a beam on
each head in moody, continuous rain.
Anna Conway- *October 17th* {click here}
James Yamada's quirky, hilarious *Smoking at Home #1* (2005).
(wood, steel, DVD player, DVD, karaoke version of
Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" sung by Takayoshi
Nonaka, Mica Joshita and Hanayuki Hagashi, motors,
mirrors, cigarette smoke, cigarettes, laser, smoke
detector, misc. 30"x 30"x 18" plus pedstal).
This piece consists of a small wooden house constructed
out of wood and steel. The museum guard has to light a
match, put it inside the little house, which triggers a smoke
alarm- this starts up a small blue laser light show inside the tiny house
and the Johnny Cash song sung by the singers listed above.
The piece was originally shown at the Galleria Raucci in
Santamaria, Naples.
James Yamada-interview {click here}
Frank Magnotta's intricate, subtly detailed, surrealistic drawing *Breakout*
(2004 graphite on paper). An imploding, eroding, abandoned factory with broken
sign "OXY" falling off the side of the building, with a bent wire fence around it it.
Frank Magnotta at White Columns {click here}
Carol Bove's nostalgic, wistful *Adventures In Poetry* (2002) which
consists of a cheap, brown wood bookshelf with various books from
the 60's piled on it: Henry Miller, Freud's *Civilization and Its Discontents*,
The Radical Therapist, Quotations from Mao-Tse Tung, A Skeleton
Key to Finnigans Wake, the script for Michaelangelo Antonioni's *Blowup*,
Genet, The Communist Manifesto, Clockwork Orange
Carol Bove {click here}
Tobias Putrih's delicate, yet incredibly monumental cardboard sculptures,
called *Macula Series A & L* (2005) originally shown at the Max Protech
Gallery. These are biomorphic forms about 3-4 feet high and varying dimensions
around, made by cutting out thin slices of cardboard
attaching, stacking and sandwiching the pieces. The
sculptures are shown in one of the most beautifully lighted rooms in the museum,
with windows facing out on the skyline and the bridge.
You can see light through these gorgeous
cardboard sculptures, about 10 in all. Don't miss this work!!
Rico Gatson's 2001 film *Gunplay* . Sounds and images from
westerns are altered into bent and twisted, multiple, kaleidoscopic,
cartoon-like sequences, faintly reminiscent of op-art,
with sounds of gunshots and some of the lines repeating
thoughout. A witty must-see piece shown on one of the 3rd or 4th
floor staircases.
Rico Gatson- video still from Gun Play- Ronald Feldman Fine Arts {click here}
Peter Coffin's dreamlike installation piece,
*Untitled (Hollow Log with Model of the'
Universe)* A teepee in the sand, with
Neil Young-like 70's dancemix playing
inside. A mannikin with long hair, dressed in cowboy
clothes is standing in the sand looking out the
museum window onto a brick wall, with a couple of rusty beercans
lying at his feet. The piece made me think of Neil Young's
*Cowgirl in the Sand*
One of the most interesting aspects of this young
artists show is to consider what aspects of modern
and recent art is still of interest to them. Notably: Dada,
surrealism, collage, altered film and sound images and
filmed animation.
There are numerous apparent references to contemporary
artists such as Tony Oursler, Jenny Holzer, Carolee Schneeman,
Tim Hawkinson, Barbara Kruger and Vito Acconci, and many others, of course.
This is a fine opportunity to try to pick out which artists
and artistic techniques are being noticed and
seized on by more recent artists.
Nostalgia for the colorful, imaginative,
idealistic world of the 60's is clearly revealed
in many of the pieces.
But a good many of these works are more meditative
and consciously less "flashy" than their predecessors,
even when the earlier works are being echoed.
Still, preoccupation with fragmentation and discontinuity
continues apace as it has from the later 19th through the 20th century,
and much earlier, if you think of Bosch and Archimbaldo,
just to select two examples.
Very few 1980's influences seemed to be present,
thinking of the recent Lower East Side retrospective
at the Chelsea Museum: much more emphasis on technique.
Not so many pop references, a la Andy Warhol and when
they are referenced the allusions are embedded securely
within the formal techniques being employed.
Cut paper and cardboard, collage, mixed media,
and most notably gentle irony and humor are
constantly in evidence. We noted a work reflecting on
9/11 and another one concerned with the Lebanon car bombings.
We were impressed by the huge amount of excellent work
and the generally impressive qualities of of the work in this show:
profundity, social awareness, formal innovation, focus.
We'll identify many more works for discussion more closely on our
next visit.
We are definitely returning to this show next
weekend - so more on these artists next week-
there are a number of artists, such as
Mika Rothenberg and Aida Rulova, and numerous others
-whose names we missed- we need
to consider further. No doubt a number of
works will jump out at us only after a
second visit- which we plan to make
after going to view the work of
Jean Foos- studio #403
May 14 and May 15 open studio
at Jevenal Reis Studios- 43-01 22cd Street
L.I.C. 646-403-9584
E or V train to 23rd St./Ely Ave.
#7 to 45th Road/Courthouse Square
G to Court Square
walk north on 23rd Street (under the train
tracks) make a left on 44th Avenue
and right on 22 Street
Jean Foos
Images {click here}
Toni had the idea yesterday that if were going to
go to Flux Factory to -hopefully- meet Grant
Bailie- at the Novel launch party at 7pm-
we might as well also go to PS 1 to see
Greater New York 2005- 160 New York
artists who have "emerged" since 2000-
which was nearby. This turned out to be a prescient
idea as Flux Factory was anything but easy to
get to. Our cab driver managed to barely
miss going over the Queensboro Bridge twice
trying to locate the Flux Factory. But we
did locate it in plenty of time. We also managed
to find the nearest N Train subway stop after
leaving the Flux Factory party. But Toni was
damn mad we didn't get a cab out of there!
We were disappointed to have to miss
Stan Apps and Douglas Rothschild at
the Bowery Poetry Club. Hopefully, another
blogger has filed- or will- file a reading report
on what must have been a dynamite reading!
Well, we did get to meet Grant Bailie-
and we do have good news. Here's a treat
for ::fait accompli:: readers. Two of the *Novel*
writers- so far- Grant Bailie and Laurie
Stone- have opened blogs in which they
promise to post excerpts of their novels.
These blogs are
Grant Bailie Novel Blogspot {click here}
and
Laurie Stone Novel Blogspot {click here}
After going to the blockbuster
Greater New York 2005 {click here}
we did get to meet Grant Bailie and Ranbir Sidhu
at the Flux Factory Launch. As Grant mentioned
in the interview below, he was anxious to get
started on the project. Flux Factory is a loft
building in Long Island City near Northern
Blvd where 15 artists and writers-in-residents
live and do their work. We were very pleased
to meet Grant- and Ranbir Sidhu at the launch party.
We're sure many - if not all of you- have had the
experience of meeting someone online and
finally getting to meet them in person. After a little bit of
party type waiting around, it was
a sheer delight to meet Grant- and Ranbir Sidhu.
We had spotted Grant chatting with someone
in the corner and fortunately had seen his photo
in the aforementioned interview (see below).
Fortunately we didn't need to ask him a whole
lot of questions about the project
that had already been fully answered in this very
recent interview (Grant was surprised to hear
it was already online). But we did find out that
the Flux Factory novelists involved in this project
can't leave the Factory- for long- for the entire month! Pretty
strict rules. We'll be following this project closely
here on ::fait accompli::. Best of luck to Grant
and to the other novelists participating in this
adventurous- and very rigorous- experiment in writing!
Can't resist mentioning that wandering around looking
for something to eat after visiting the amazing PS 1
massive group show we found an
excellent French restaurant in the
middle of this relatively deserted Queens area.
It is called *Tournesol* and it is located at
50-12 Vernon Blvd- but this won't help you find
it after visiting PS 1. We suggest calling for
instructions- and maybe even reservations
(we got there early but we were lucky to get a table)
(#7 train to Vernon-Jackson stop)
(718) 472-4355. Cool place.
*****************************************************
The PS 1 show is fortunately up until September 26.
We'll say right off the bat that we have never heard
Toni say she wanted to return to a group
show right after seeing one before this.
But even with several hours it was impossible to cover
this entire show. We hurriedly scribbled down a few
notes but missed the name on our favorite video in
the show- a video of a violin performance that is transformed
into a complex and rapidly mutating film, doubling and
quadrupling the image of the violinist along with constantly
accelerating the film and the music!
Here are a few favorites:
Oliver Michaels lyrical *Train* (2003-2004)
originally shown at the Shoshana Wayne Gallery.
This is a 13 minute film. The observer is a passenger
on a little train riding along the floor of a room which
disappears again and again into tiny mouse-hole
tunnels in the floorboards of the rooms only to emerge
into another room or somewhere in the surrounding
area.
Anna Conway's stunning 2001 35"x 48" painting
titled *October 17th, 41 degrees 46 minutes
N. 70 degrees 31 minutes W.* The painting
depicts four puppet heads floating in a whirling ocean
storm, with a searchboat casting a beam on
each head in moody, continuous rain.
Anna Conway- *October 17th* {click here}
James Yamada's quirky, hilarious *Smoking at Home #1* (2005).
(wood, steel, DVD player, DVD, karaoke version of
Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" sung by Takayoshi
Nonaka, Mica Joshita and Hanayuki Hagashi, motors,
mirrors, cigarette smoke, cigarettes, laser, smoke
detector, misc. 30"x 30"x 18" plus pedstal).
This piece consists of a small wooden house constructed
out of wood and steel. The museum guard has to light a
match, put it inside the little house, which triggers a smoke
alarm- this starts up a small blue laser light show inside the tiny house
and the Johnny Cash song sung by the singers listed above.
The piece was originally shown at the Galleria Raucci in
Santamaria, Naples.
James Yamada-interview {click here}
Frank Magnotta's intricate, subtly detailed, surrealistic drawing *Breakout*
(2004 graphite on paper). An imploding, eroding, abandoned factory with broken
sign "OXY" falling off the side of the building, with a bent wire fence around it it.
Frank Magnotta at White Columns {click here}
Carol Bove's nostalgic, wistful *Adventures In Poetry* (2002) which
consists of a cheap, brown wood bookshelf with various books from
the 60's piled on it: Henry Miller, Freud's *Civilization and Its Discontents*,
The Radical Therapist, Quotations from Mao-Tse Tung, A Skeleton
Key to Finnigans Wake, the script for Michaelangelo Antonioni's *Blowup*,
Genet, The Communist Manifesto, Clockwork Orange
Carol Bove {click here}
Tobias Putrih's delicate, yet incredibly monumental cardboard sculptures,
called *Macula Series A & L* (2005) originally shown at the Max Protech
Gallery. These are biomorphic forms about 3-4 feet high and varying dimensions
around, made by cutting out thin slices of cardboard
attaching, stacking and sandwiching the pieces. The
sculptures are shown in one of the most beautifully lighted rooms in the museum,
with windows facing out on the skyline and the bridge.
You can see light through these gorgeous
cardboard sculptures, about 10 in all. Don't miss this work!!
Rico Gatson's 2001 film *Gunplay* . Sounds and images from
westerns are altered into bent and twisted, multiple, kaleidoscopic,
cartoon-like sequences, faintly reminiscent of op-art,
with sounds of gunshots and some of the lines repeating
thoughout. A witty must-see piece shown on one of the 3rd or 4th
floor staircases.
Rico Gatson- video still from Gun Play- Ronald Feldman Fine Arts {click here}
Peter Coffin's dreamlike installation piece,
*Untitled (Hollow Log with Model of the'
Universe)* A teepee in the sand, with
Neil Young-like 70's dancemix playing
inside. A mannikin with long hair, dressed in cowboy
clothes is standing in the sand looking out the
museum window onto a brick wall, with a couple of rusty beercans
lying at his feet. The piece made me think of Neil Young's
*Cowgirl in the Sand*
One of the most interesting aspects of this young
artists show is to consider what aspects of modern
and recent art is still of interest to them. Notably: Dada,
surrealism, collage, altered film and sound images and
filmed animation.
There are numerous apparent references to contemporary
artists such as Tony Oursler, Jenny Holzer, Carolee Schneeman,
Tim Hawkinson, Barbara Kruger and Vito Acconci, and many others, of course.
This is a fine opportunity to try to pick out which artists
and artistic techniques are being noticed and
seized on by more recent artists.
Nostalgia for the colorful, imaginative,
idealistic world of the 60's is clearly revealed
in many of the pieces.
But a good many of these works are more meditative
and consciously less "flashy" than their predecessors,
even when the earlier works are being echoed.
Still, preoccupation with fragmentation and discontinuity
continues apace as it has from the later 19th through the 20th century,
and much earlier, if you think of Bosch and Archimbaldo,
just to select two examples.
Very few 1980's influences seemed to be present,
thinking of the recent Lower East Side retrospective
at the Chelsea Museum: much more emphasis on technique.
Not so many pop references, a la Andy Warhol and when
they are referenced the allusions are embedded securely
within the formal techniques being employed.
Cut paper and cardboard, collage, mixed media,
and most notably gentle irony and humor are
constantly in evidence. We noted a work reflecting on
9/11 and another one concerned with the Lebanon car bombings.
We were impressed by the huge amount of excellent work
and the generally impressive qualities of of the work in this show:
profundity, social awareness, formal innovation, focus.
We'll identify many more works for discussion more closely on our
next visit.
We are definitely returning to this show next
weekend - so more on these artists next week-
there are a number of artists, such as
Mika Rothenberg and Aida Rulova, and numerous others
-whose names we missed- we need
to consider further. No doubt a number of
works will jump out at us only after a
second visit- which we plan to make
after going to view the work of
Jean Foos- studio #403
May 14 and May 15 open studio
at Jevenal Reis Studios- 43-01 22cd Street
L.I.C. 646-403-9584
E or V train to 23rd St./Ely Ave.
#7 to 45th Road/Courthouse Square
G to Court Square
walk north on 23rd Street (under the train
tracks) make a left on 44th Avenue
and right on 22 Street
Jean Foos
Images {click here}
Saturday, May 7
Tom Beckett is Still Editing His MiPoesias Issue
but not for long:
How to send Tom Beckett work for MiPoesias {click here}
but not for long:
How to send Tom Beckett work for MiPoesias {click here}
Facing the Gallows at Flux Factory
An interview with Grant Bailie about his upcoming month's
"monk like" devotion to Art {click here}
*****************************************************************
::fait accompli:: review of
*Cloud 8* by Grant Bailie {click here}
****************************************************************
FLUX FACTORY
is at 38-38 43rd Street in Long Island City, Queens. It now encompasses 7,500 square feet and the population of Flux Factory has grown to approximately fifty individuals internationally.
take the #7 train at Times Square/42cd Street
to 40th Street/Lowery Street stop and
walk 5 blocks
An interview with Grant Bailie about his upcoming month's
"monk like" devotion to Art {click here}
*****************************************************************
::fait accompli:: review of
*Cloud 8* by Grant Bailie {click here}
****************************************************************
FLUX FACTORY
is at 38-38 43rd Street in Long Island City, Queens. It now encompasses 7,500 square feet and the population of Flux Factory has grown to approximately fifty individuals internationally.
take the #7 train at Times Square/42cd Street
to 40th Street/Lowery Street stop and
walk 5 blocks
Friday, May 6
Take A Bow
Grant Bailie, author of *Cloud 8*, Laurie Stone and
Ranbir Sidhu will participate in a unique writing
experiment over the next month-writing a complete
novel on the spot. Opening party
at Flux Factory this Saturday, May 7th 7-10pm {click here}
****************************************************************
Tickets have just gone on sale for *Shadowtime*,
an opera about Walter Benjamin, libretto
by Charles Bernstein
Shadowtime {click here}
****************************************************************
Bowery Poetry Club
Saturday, May 7 2005
4:00pm
Segue: DOUGLAS ROTHSCHILD and STAN APPS $5
Douglas Rothschild is the creator and host of “The Poetry Game Show”
currently running at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York.
He has also served as Curator of the Zinc Bar Reading Series
and the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church, and is a
Co-Founder of Subpress. His books include
The Minor Arcana (Bivouac/subpress) and MatchBook (Situation).
He lives in Albany, NY.
Stan Apps was born in Canada and has lived in Texas and California.
He has recently published poems in Mirage#4/Period(Ical).
His chapbook, Barbara Bush’s Visit on Behalf of the Chosen One
(umbrellad devil press) was performed by the Oracular Vagina Collective at
L.A.’s Inshallah Gallery. Stan has a blog (refried ORACLE phone)
and a few collaborative blogs, such as bed bird bed
(whereisericbara.blogspot.com) with Marco Saenz,
and genius nieces (geniusnieces.blogspot.com) with
Ara Shirinyan. A chapbook is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse.
Grant Bailie, author of *Cloud 8*, Laurie Stone and
Ranbir Sidhu will participate in a unique writing
experiment over the next month-writing a complete
novel on the spot. Opening party
at Flux Factory this Saturday, May 7th 7-10pm {click here}
****************************************************************
Tickets have just gone on sale for *Shadowtime*,
an opera about Walter Benjamin, libretto
by Charles Bernstein
Shadowtime {click here}
****************************************************************
Bowery Poetry Club
Saturday, May 7 2005
4:00pm
Segue: DOUGLAS ROTHSCHILD and STAN APPS $5
Douglas Rothschild is the creator and host of “The Poetry Game Show”
currently running at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York.
He has also served as Curator of the Zinc Bar Reading Series
and the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church, and is a
Co-Founder of Subpress. His books include
The Minor Arcana (Bivouac/subpress) and MatchBook (Situation).
He lives in Albany, NY.
Stan Apps was born in Canada and has lived in Texas and California.
He has recently published poems in Mirage#4/Period(Ical).
His chapbook, Barbara Bush’s Visit on Behalf of the Chosen One
(umbrellad devil press) was performed by the Oracular Vagina Collective at
L.A.’s Inshallah Gallery. Stan has a blog (refried ORACLE phone)
and a few collaborative blogs, such as bed bird bed
(whereisericbara.blogspot.com) with Marco Saenz,
and genius nieces (geniusnieces.blogspot.com) with
Ara Shirinyan. A chapbook is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse.
Thursday, May 5
Life and Art on the Suny/Buffalo Poetics List
Awhile ago, a discussion that, for once,
wasn’t about the list itself emerged on the
poetics list. It is about the life versus the
work of the poet. Some of the remarks
a few days ago inspired me to
scribble the following.
You can read the listserv by clicking here:
Poetics List Archives {click here}
To contribute to the discussion, follow the instructions for
subscribing. At the present time, the list is calling for
writing on poetry and poetics; we would
love to see many more reviews of books, chapbooks
and blogs by contemporary writers as well as focused commentary on
related issues.
.
Anyway, here’s
my brief recent offering:
on the life versus the work of a poet
Obviously, over time, poets' works and lives
are interwoven in the public imagination, and are occasionally
seen together as representative of an era and even have been
claimed by some to usher in an artistic era. In this case, the
"humanity" of the poet is looked at closely. Think of Mallarme
in this light; few ardent readers have not read about and
visualized his famous "Tuesday night" soirees, attended
by such luminaries as Debussy. Mallarme and
Baudelaire's interest in the visual arts
have been a great influence on countless subsequent poets.
A fascinating example of this tendency are the oft-cited
discussions of Walter Benjamin on Baudelaire. Baudelaire's
way of handling his poverty, and the fact that his poetry
remained largely unrecognized in his lifetime helped to
create the very concept of the "bohemian" lifestyle.
Think of how Emily Dickinson and Gertrude Stein are
depicted not only in the light of their works, but their lives.
The "imperfections" of an artist's life might later be seen as an
opening for liberating possibilities for the lifestyles of countless
others. My favorite book on this is Shattuck's *The Banquet Years.*
Despite the earnest and sincere efforts on the part of
many critics and theorists to separate poets' lives
from their works, readers of poetry and people
on the whole generally connect the two. Who
hasn't thought about the implications of Kafka asking, shortly
before he died, that his writing be destroyed by his best friend,
who, thankfully, disregarded this? There are so many
examples of such anecdotes that shape the
way we regard a writer's works.
For me, "biography" or published biographies do not represent
the totality of the continued cultural presence of anyone,
particularly their crucial cultural "imago," least of all that of a poet.
There was a life lived; it is experienced and remembered in
certain ways; there were words written, and things said; these are
initially experienced in a cultural context and then recorded
and remembered in certain ways. Most people who become
fascinated with a book or a movie eventually want to know
everything they can learn about the person who wrote
the book or made the movie. This is because the movie has
caused them to think about the experience we call "life."
Countless memoirs and biographies continue to appear
about Sylvia Plath, for example. Most of her readers do not
content themselves with rereading her poems.
They want to know more. A better example might be the record
made of the life of Wallace Stevens, "Parts of a World Remembered",
where nearly every living person who knew Wallace Stevens
at all was interviewed. Paul Celan's poetry is loved, treasured even,
but the reality of his cultural presence evolved not only from the publication
of the poems themselves. These reflected things thought and spoken by an actual
living person. Celan is a "character" is the ongoing cinema we call "real life."
JW's [list member's] statement, for me, somewhat discounts this aspect
of dream in so-called "real life." There are no such sharp distinctions in the life
of art, in either its creation or its reception. Check out D.A. Levy's
*Translating Tradition* concerning Paul Celan, for example.
The cultural role of Celan grows more complex and interwoven with the lives of countless people each and every day. This isn't only because of the poems.
Pavese is another great example. Poet suicides go to the heart
of the issue we are discussing here. Their final acts are just as much
a "statement" as anything that was written or said by them.
Their works and their lives constitute a total "statement." We
don't just read, we feel, we empathize, we have antipathies,
we react, we identify. Writing and reading poetry, or any literature,
or significantly experiencing any work of art, is also partly
an adventure in personal insight and transformation.
It is utterly "personal", even when contemporary life at the
moment is less and less so. Poetry and poets and all artists
struggle to enliven the personal, individual aspect of living.
I would imagine at one time people talked about poetry-
even here on the list the still do sometimes- the way now
almost everyone talks about movies, movie actors, directors, etc. *Blade
Runner* is a cultural touchstone in every detail now. Book after
book keeps appearing offering more and more information, opinion
and insight. At one time the same thing happened with Byron.
Such discussion is not just for the purpose of intellectual
understanding. It is part and parcel of cultural experience,
in the sense that culture is a work in process, wherein artistic
works and lives are interventions in the process, interventions
towards change, nor "progress" but mutative transformation.
Andy Warhol played off these blurry boundaries between art
and life more or less constantly. He carried a tape recorder
around he called his companion and published he diaries
and journals even though he was mainly a visual artist. He did
this with humor and irony; nevertheless the presence of living
people was crucial; out of this he created his films in which his
"stars" were very deliberately people in the act of living their lives,
also trying to become *stars* themselves. OK, they were underpaid
but that's another story.
The Dada poets, and in a more diluted way, the surrealists
were out to make just this point. But in a literary culture obsessed
with critique and evaluation of a poet's book's "greatness",
it is only the actual product that counts, not the person who creates it.
In art the story is different; everything counts.
******************************************************************************
Drew Gardner on Tim Hawkinson
Overlap (Drew Gardner)
Awhile ago, a discussion that, for once,
wasn’t about the list itself emerged on the
poetics list. It is about the life versus the
work of the poet. Some of the remarks
a few days ago inspired me to
scribble the following.
You can read the listserv by clicking here:
Poetics List Archives {click here}
To contribute to the discussion, follow the instructions for
subscribing. At the present time, the list is calling for
writing on poetry and poetics; we would
love to see many more reviews of books, chapbooks
and blogs by contemporary writers as well as focused commentary on
related issues.
.
Anyway, here’s
my brief recent offering:
on the life versus the work of a poet
Obviously, over time, poets' works and lives
are interwoven in the public imagination, and are occasionally
seen together as representative of an era and even have been
claimed by some to usher in an artistic era. In this case, the
"humanity" of the poet is looked at closely. Think of Mallarme
in this light; few ardent readers have not read about and
visualized his famous "Tuesday night" soirees, attended
by such luminaries as Debussy. Mallarme and
Baudelaire's interest in the visual arts
have been a great influence on countless subsequent poets.
A fascinating example of this tendency are the oft-cited
discussions of Walter Benjamin on Baudelaire. Baudelaire's
way of handling his poverty, and the fact that his poetry
remained largely unrecognized in his lifetime helped to
create the very concept of the "bohemian" lifestyle.
Think of how Emily Dickinson and Gertrude Stein are
depicted not only in the light of their works, but their lives.
The "imperfections" of an artist's life might later be seen as an
opening for liberating possibilities for the lifestyles of countless
others. My favorite book on this is Shattuck's *The Banquet Years.*
Despite the earnest and sincere efforts on the part of
many critics and theorists to separate poets' lives
from their works, readers of poetry and people
on the whole generally connect the two. Who
hasn't thought about the implications of Kafka asking, shortly
before he died, that his writing be destroyed by his best friend,
who, thankfully, disregarded this? There are so many
examples of such anecdotes that shape the
way we regard a writer's works.
For me, "biography" or published biographies do not represent
the totality of the continued cultural presence of anyone,
particularly their crucial cultural "imago," least of all that of a poet.
There was a life lived; it is experienced and remembered in
certain ways; there were words written, and things said; these are
initially experienced in a cultural context and then recorded
and remembered in certain ways. Most people who become
fascinated with a book or a movie eventually want to know
everything they can learn about the person who wrote
the book or made the movie. This is because the movie has
caused them to think about the experience we call "life."
Countless memoirs and biographies continue to appear
about Sylvia Plath, for example. Most of her readers do not
content themselves with rereading her poems.
They want to know more. A better example might be the record
made of the life of Wallace Stevens, "Parts of a World Remembered",
where nearly every living person who knew Wallace Stevens
at all was interviewed. Paul Celan's poetry is loved, treasured even,
but the reality of his cultural presence evolved not only from the publication
of the poems themselves. These reflected things thought and spoken by an actual
living person. Celan is a "character" is the ongoing cinema we call "real life."
JW's [list member's] statement, for me, somewhat discounts this aspect
of dream in so-called "real life." There are no such sharp distinctions in the life
of art, in either its creation or its reception. Check out D.A. Levy's
*Translating Tradition* concerning Paul Celan, for example.
The cultural role of Celan grows more complex and interwoven with the lives of countless people each and every day. This isn't only because of the poems.
Pavese is another great example. Poet suicides go to the heart
of the issue we are discussing here. Their final acts are just as much
a "statement" as anything that was written or said by them.
Their works and their lives constitute a total "statement." We
don't just read, we feel, we empathize, we have antipathies,
we react, we identify. Writing and reading poetry, or any literature,
or significantly experiencing any work of art, is also partly
an adventure in personal insight and transformation.
It is utterly "personal", even when contemporary life at the
moment is less and less so. Poetry and poets and all artists
struggle to enliven the personal, individual aspect of living.
I would imagine at one time people talked about poetry-
even here on the list the still do sometimes- the way now
almost everyone talks about movies, movie actors, directors, etc. *Blade
Runner* is a cultural touchstone in every detail now. Book after
book keeps appearing offering more and more information, opinion
and insight. At one time the same thing happened with Byron.
Such discussion is not just for the purpose of intellectual
understanding. It is part and parcel of cultural experience,
in the sense that culture is a work in process, wherein artistic
works and lives are interventions in the process, interventions
towards change, nor "progress" but mutative transformation.
Andy Warhol played off these blurry boundaries between art
and life more or less constantly. He carried a tape recorder
around he called his companion and published he diaries
and journals even though he was mainly a visual artist. He did
this with humor and irony; nevertheless the presence of living
people was crucial; out of this he created his films in which his
"stars" were very deliberately people in the act of living their lives,
also trying to become *stars* themselves. OK, they were underpaid
but that's another story.
The Dada poets, and in a more diluted way, the surrealists
were out to make just this point. But in a literary culture obsessed
with critique and evaluation of a poet's book's "greatness",
it is only the actual product that counts, not the person who creates it.
In art the story is different; everything counts.
******************************************************************************
Drew Gardner on Tim Hawkinson
Overlap (Drew Gardner)
Wednesday, May 4
Echo Zone
"When we read, we are not looking for new ideas, but
to see our own thoughts given the seal of confirmation on the
printed page. The words that strike us are those that awake
an echo in a zone we have already made our own- the place
where we live- and the vibration enables us to find fresh
starting points within ourselves.
What a great thought it is that all *effort* is futile! It
is sufficient just to let our ego blossom, go along with it, take
it by the hand as though it were someone else, have faith
that we are more important than we realized."
Cesare Pavese
3rd December, 1938
*The Burning Brand: Diaries 1935-1950*
Walker and Company, 1961, p.139
"When we read, we are not looking for new ideas, but
to see our own thoughts given the seal of confirmation on the
printed page. The words that strike us are those that awake
an echo in a zone we have already made our own- the place
where we live- and the vibration enables us to find fresh
starting points within ourselves.
What a great thought it is that all *effort* is futile! It
is sufficient just to let our ego blossom, go along with it, take
it by the hand as though it were someone else, have faith
that we are more important than we realized."
Cesare Pavese
3rd December, 1938
*The Burning Brand: Diaries 1935-1950*
Walker and Company, 1961, p.139
Now at a Tributary near you {click here}
Allan Bramhall's blog is getting to be addictive.
Today he opines on the first issue of Gary Sullivan's
new comic *Elsewhere*
Tuesday, May 3
"Rarely remembering it was Congreve who said
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.
Rarely remembering that it was Congreve who said
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
In the same play."
David Markson
*This Is Not A Novel*
Counterpoint, 2001
pps. 97-98
Review of David Markson's latest book *Vanishing Point* {click here}
Remarks by Congreve {click here}
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.
Rarely remembering that it was Congreve who said
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
In the same play."
David Markson
*This Is Not A Novel*
Counterpoint, 2001
pps. 97-98
Review of David Markson's latest book *Vanishing Point* {click here}
Remarks by Congreve {click here}
ON'T MISS THIS
Text/Styles
A poetry/fashion event
to benefit international garment workers
Sunday May 22 Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery) 8-10 pm
$5 donation
Featuring:
Kim Rosenfield
Rob Fitterman
Adeena Karasick
Shanna Compton
Katie Degentesh
Virginie Poitrasson
Tim Peterson
Christina Strong
Jack Kimball
Marianne Shaneen
Douglas Rothschild
Brenda Iijima
Tonya Foster
Jordan Davis
Meghan Cleary
& (organizer/MC) Nada Gordon
Wear your favorite or most outstanding clothing. Bring clothes to sell for the benefit of garment workers worldwide. All proceeds will be donated to Cleanclothes.org, #
*******************************************************
The Latest on PennSound Audio
(via Suny/Buff poetics list)
"Since out launch on January 1, we have added many new files, and continue
to do so on a weekly basis. We are developing a fully functioning catalog,
but this will take at least one more year. We are also beginning to create
links to author sound files from EPC author pages. In the meantime, we have
installed a quick search feature, which, combined with our "singles" index,
will help to locate most of our files.
PennSound {click here}
Recent additions to our "featured authors" include a selected poems of John
Wieners and Fanny Howe, and readings by Lyn Hejinian, Adrienne Rich,
Barrett Watten, Norman Fischer, Robert Creeley, Myung Mi Kim, and talks by
Ron Silliman and Leevhi Lehto.
On our "Series" pages, in addition to the new Studio 111 shows, we have
added "Poetic Brooklyn," produced by Susan Brennan, which features readings
by Anja Mutic, Matvei Yankelevich, Arielle Greenberg, Vijay Sheshadri,
Julien Poirier, and Filip Marinovic.
Also at "series", we have added a new season of Cross Cultural Poetics,
Leonard Schwartz's radio interviews/readings. New programs feature Robin
Blaser, Meredeith Quartermain, and Peter Quatermain, from Vancouver;
Richard Seiburth, who talks about, and reads from, his extraordinary
translation of Buchner's Lenz; and John Taggart on "Peace on Earth". Other
programs feature Trevor Joyce, Khaled Mattawa, Rodrigo Toscano, Charles
Borkhuis, Russell Banks, Joseph Donahue, Albert Mobillio, John O'Leary,
Wang Ping Stacy Doris, Ed Foster, Nada Gorden, Maxine Chernoff, Rita Wong,
Wang Ping, Mark Wallace, and more.
We have also just launched PennSound/Classics, with readings of Pope and
Swift by John Richetti and David Wallace reading Chaucer.
I also want to recommend a marvellous Rockdrill CD series of selected
poems, from Birkbeck (UK)
*Robert Creeley: 'I Know a Man', poems 1945-1975
* Robert Creeley: 'Just in Time', poems 1976-1998
* Lee Harwood: 'The Chart Table', poems 1965-2002
* Tom Raworth: 'Ace', poems 1966-1979
* Tom Raworth: 'Writing', poems 1980-2003
* Jerome Rothenberg: 'Sightings', poems 1960-1983
* Jerome Rothenberg: 'Seedings', poems 1984-2003
You can order these from Carcanet's web site:
go to http://www.carcanet.co.uk/search2.html
and put "rockdrill" in the title box"
(from Charles Bernstein)
Text/Styles
A poetry/fashion event
to benefit international garment workers
Sunday May 22 Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery) 8-10 pm
$5 donation
Featuring:
Kim Rosenfield
Rob Fitterman
Adeena Karasick
Shanna Compton
Katie Degentesh
Virginie Poitrasson
Tim Peterson
Christina Strong
Jack Kimball
Marianne Shaneen
Douglas Rothschild
Brenda Iijima
Tonya Foster
Jordan Davis
Meghan Cleary
& (organizer/MC) Nada Gordon
Wear your favorite or most outstanding clothing. Bring clothes to sell for the benefit of garment workers worldwide. All proceeds will be donated to Cleanclothes.org, #
*******************************************************
The Latest on PennSound Audio
(via Suny/Buff poetics list)
"Since out launch on January 1, we have added many new files, and continue
to do so on a weekly basis. We are developing a fully functioning catalog,
but this will take at least one more year. We are also beginning to create
links to author sound files from EPC author pages. In the meantime, we have
installed a quick search feature, which, combined with our "singles" index,
will help to locate most of our files.
PennSound {click here}
Recent additions to our "featured authors" include a selected poems of John
Wieners and Fanny Howe, and readings by Lyn Hejinian, Adrienne Rich,
Barrett Watten, Norman Fischer, Robert Creeley, Myung Mi Kim, and talks by
Ron Silliman and Leevhi Lehto.
On our "Series" pages, in addition to the new Studio 111 shows, we have
added "Poetic Brooklyn," produced by Susan Brennan, which features readings
by Anja Mutic, Matvei Yankelevich, Arielle Greenberg, Vijay Sheshadri,
Julien Poirier, and Filip Marinovic.
Also at "series", we have added a new season of Cross Cultural Poetics,
Leonard Schwartz's radio interviews/readings. New programs feature Robin
Blaser, Meredeith Quartermain, and Peter Quatermain, from Vancouver;
Richard Seiburth, who talks about, and reads from, his extraordinary
translation of Buchner's Lenz; and John Taggart on "Peace on Earth". Other
programs feature Trevor Joyce, Khaled Mattawa, Rodrigo Toscano, Charles
Borkhuis, Russell Banks, Joseph Donahue, Albert Mobillio, John O'Leary,
Wang Ping Stacy Doris, Ed Foster, Nada Gorden, Maxine Chernoff, Rita Wong,
Wang Ping, Mark Wallace, and more.
We have also just launched PennSound/Classics, with readings of Pope and
Swift by John Richetti and David Wallace reading Chaucer.
I also want to recommend a marvellous Rockdrill CD series of selected
poems, from Birkbeck (UK)
*Robert Creeley: 'I Know a Man', poems 1945-1975
* Robert Creeley: 'Just in Time', poems 1976-1998
* Lee Harwood: 'The Chart Table', poems 1965-2002
* Tom Raworth: 'Ace', poems 1966-1979
* Tom Raworth: 'Writing', poems 1980-2003
* Jerome Rothenberg: 'Sightings', poems 1960-1983
* Jerome Rothenberg: 'Seedings', poems 1984-2003
You can order these from Carcanet's web site:
go to http://www.carcanet.co.uk/search2.html
and put "rockdrill" in the title box"
(from Charles Bernstein)
Monday, May 2
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