Comments on: Missoula, Missoula

By: James Doran

James Doran — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:59:32 +0000

Hello:
I am trying to find out about venues in Missoula and western Montana for poetry performances. I sing a few songs, mostly celtic, and read my own poetry. This has been very well received in Coeur d’alene and spokane and I want to expand into Montana.
Can you help me find venues? If not, can you put me in touch with the right people?
Thank you.
James Doran
208-667-0643

By: Brandon Shimoda

Brandon Shimoda — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:00:13 +0000

hey linh,
i’ve been reading these poems by — and an incredible interview with — milanese poet FRANCO LOI. have you read any or much of him? there’s a new book out from counterpath press, translated by andrew frisardi. the interview in the back of the book should be required reading — for its investigation into dialect poetry, among many other things. anyway, two items i wanted to share:
from the interview:
“War is strange. Terrible, useless, devastating, but war like poverty brings human beings back to their true dimensions … The social order often hides the most ferocious war. For example, economic bullying, the injustices of capitalism, consumerism that dims awareness, the empire of false values, the hypocrisy of violence; peace often justifies bad consciences and therefore produces criminality, warfare among the poor, sexual oppression, and humiliation at work.”
[the last sentence has some profound things to say about peace, some things i was thinking through with my responses to your questions. also, i like to think of loi's use of the word "useless" in terms of chuang tzu's "useless," i.e. we all understand the usefulness of the useful, but how many of us understand the usefulness of the useless?]
AND
“Loi is not a dialect poet in the traditional sense: one who shields the intimacy of his regional culture from the big, bad world. To Loi, the ‘vernacular’ of his choice is an uncontaminated medium with which to wage lyrical war on the world at large”
[this is a quote from his dutch translator, willem van toorn — i was thinking of community as a potentially “uncontaminated medium with which to wage war,” though again, its interesting that he uses the word “war,” which merely perpetuates the problem, in the guise of an “uncontaminated” solution. perhaps the organization of bodies, in general — political or not — possesses the inevitability of chaos and bloodshed.
just some thoughts on a saturday morning. take care linh,

By: Dale

Dale — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:40:42 +0000

Linh, yeah, I think regionalism is going to make a big come-back, as they say. And our diverse regions are already beginning to resemble a permanent state of Montana. Down here in Austin I feel like we’re in that eerie quiet of flatline smoothness before the tsunami crests. Thanks for the report from up North.
Dale

By: Linh Dinh

Linh Dinh — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:48:55 +0000

Hi Bill,
I also believe that as our air travel system continues to deteriorate, communities will become more detached from each other, and more sufficient into themselves. Cosmopolitanism will become a luxury, an ostentatious crime and a fond memory. Regionalism will certainly make a come back.

By: Linh Dinh

Linh Dinh — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:34:42 +0000

Hi Bill,
I’m glad to make your acquaintance. You forgot Greg Pape, who’s a native Montanan, I think, but you’re right, the most interesting poets on the Montana faculty, Karen Volkman, Joanna Klink and Prageeta Sharma, came from outside, but that’s often true of bigger places also. Just think of how many “New York” poets are from elsewhere. In time, Montana will permeate Karen Volkman, just as she will leave her imprint on it.

By: bill knott

bill knott — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:21:12 +0000

>>>i can’t disagree with you about anything,
Mr. Linh Dinh, lacking the intellectual self
you possess,
but i too was a Richard Hugo poet there
about three years ago . . . and
it struck me as odd that every poet-teacher
there (including myself that semester)
was from somewhere else: not one was
a native Montanan . . .
i say that not to denigrate the fine poets
there, they have been justly praised lauded
celebrated for their brilliant work,
but surely Hugo (or do I mean Stafford)
was rooted in and promulgated and was
most identifed with a belief in the value of
an indigenous esthetic,
a regional poetics . . .
the names Hugo and Stafford used to be
shorthand for the merits of regionalism
in literature. . .
what price cosmopolitanism?—
what is lost and displaced and undervalued
when the sophistications of New York et al
are able to cast their hegemonic nets over
every territory extant . . .
is the regional poet becoming extinct,
or does s/he still exist somewhere (if not on the
faculty of the University of Montana)
as mythical as Bigfoot . . .

By: Brian Salchert

Brian Salchert — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:08:50 +0000

I read this, and I watched the video.