>>> June 17, 2007: This post is building off the discussion on Emily’s thread. I lived in Los Angeles from 1996 to 2003, and there was a lot happening there with Latino writers too. (LA is kind of cut off from the rest of the nation in some ways in terms of literature.) I’m thinking of Luis Alfaro (who after poetry got into playwriting and won a MacArthur [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

post-confessional poetry? June 17, 2007: I’m thinking about Rachel’s recent post and the intersection between experience and art. Some of the most powerful poems I know seem to be, if not drenched in, then at least tinged with experience and have that born-out-of-necessity feel. These poems, a number of which might be called “confessional”, seem to have something at stake [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

School of Quietitude? June 16, 2007: A commenter on Silliman's blog asked the following question: "Just curious Ron, but are any of your SoQ [School of Quietitude] poets happy to be tagged with this label now, today? Does anyone refer to him/herself as SoQ? As I say, just curious." I'm curious too. Do any of the other bloggers or readers of Harriet identify themselves as such? Either [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

DieKu June 14, 2007: Wonderful 5-7-5 syllable haikus comprised of snapshots of tombstones called "DieKu", mysteriously appearing on the streets of New York recently. Enigmatically penned by "Nick Beef - NYC" DieKu #1 Corona Brewer Noble Golden Beer Skillman Wetmore Lips Aleman DieKu #2 Bizzaro Bushman Texas Manno Wargo Wild George Izzo Looney Lengthy speculations [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

Discerning the Hub June 13, 2007: Where is the pulse of poetry, today? Is there a pulse? Is there any point in trying to find one? For a while I really felt that the pulse of poetry was this blog site. We were being quite brilliant, insightful and hip to what is going on around us and there were hints here and there that we were going to try to, if not fix the ills of poetry, at [...] by Kwame Dawes

Complete with a surprise twist ending! June 13, 2007: What fun! I want to be sexy, cool and accessible too! So here's my very own pro-consumerist thingie! Thanks, Kenny! (You may notice that I don't touch as many things as Alexandra does, and I wouldn't know a Bvulgari if it fell on me.) First, my Motorola Then my KMart Then my Dell Then my Krups Then my Sonicare Then my Ivory Then my Crest Then my [...] by Patricia Smith

Washington DC poetry slam, 1993-95 June 13, 2007: A few weeks ago Patricia talked about her coming up through the slam in Chicago, how that is where she emerged wholly as a writer and performer. That a writer of her caliber could emerge from the slam community is a testimony to the possibilities of that community. The slam was not my first artist home, but it was an important early one. [...] by Jeffrey McDaniel

Pro-Consumerist Poetry June 12, 2007: With a discussion recently here involving Time Magazine's suggestion that "what poetry really needs is a writer who can do for it what Andy Warhol did for avant-garde visual art: make it sexy and cool and accessible without making it stupid or patronizing", I think the first thing we need to do is to find a poet who is unabashedly [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

Pro-Consumerist Poet #1 June 12, 2007: First, my Motorola Alexandra Nemerov Nemerov constructed this poem by simply listing every brand she touched sequentially during a day, from the moment she woke up, until the moment she went to sleep: it's hard to imagine a more accurate contemporary self-portrait. And it doesn't get "sexier", "cooler", or "more accessible" than this. First, my [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith

Pro-Consumerist Poet #2 June 12, 2007: from Mon Catalogue Claude Closky Using a tactic similar to Nemerov's, Mon Catalogue is a complete listing of every possession Closky owns, which he then transcribed into first-person singular possessive catalogue-speak. Again, it's an amazingly contemporary form of self-portraiture, defining oneself not only by what one owns, but described in the [...] by Kenneth Goldsmith