Fred Moten

post in three parts, goodbye, hello

Mingus says the shoes of the fisherman are some jive-ass slippers. On the other hand, The Shoes of the Fisherman is my favorite movie.

02.22.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (24)

Craig Santos Perez

A Baby Picture, Author Photos, & My Second Book has been Published!

so my first book was published in 2008. the book has no author photo (my publisher said i was too ugly). but one day i received an email requesting an author photo. i had just come from the gym so i randomly decided to snap a pic with my computer’s ‘photo booth,’ and this has become my standard author photo:

02.22.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (24)

Sina Queyras

Anthologies and feminisms: are we having a moment or what?

If you found Juliana Spahr and Claudia Rankine’s American Women Poets in the 21st Century: Where Lyric Meets Language exciting you’re going to appreciate Prismatic Publics: Innovative Canadian Women’s Poetry, published in 2009 by Coach House Books. Edited superbly by Kate Eichhorn and Heath Milne, the collection includes fifteen of the “most engaging avante garde Canadian women writing poetry today.”

02.20.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (7)

Annie Finch

Rita Dove, 1956

Last week, an “open letter” from Fred Viebahn, Rita Dove’s husband and ballroom dance partner, arrived in my email box with this startling subject line: “Poetry Society of America: insensitive, clueless, or just plain racist?”

02.18.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (65)

Craig Santos Perez

‘Al Que Quiere,’ A Bilingual MFA, Multilingual Poetics, and the ‘in English’ Only Poetry Contest

In a letter to Marianne Moore dated Feb. 21, 1917, William Carlos Williams wrote:

I want to call my book:

A Book of Poems:

AL QUE QUIERE!

—which means: To him who wants it—but I like the Spanish just as I like a Chinese image cut out of stone: it is decorative and has a certain integral charm. But such a title is not democratic—does not truly represent the contents of the book, so I have added:

A Book of Poems:

AL QUE QUIERE! or THE PLEASURES OF DEMOCRACY

Now I like this conglomerate title! It is nearly a perfect image of my own grinning mug (seen from the inside), but my publisher objects—and I shake and wobble.

02.17.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (71)

Fred Moten

“to consent not to be a single being”

Edouard Glissant’s L’Intention poétique has recently been translated by Natalie Stephens; Poetic Intention will be out from Nightboat Books in March. I’ve been immersed in, and totally messed up (in the best sense) by, Glissant’s work since last Fall,

02.15.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (12)

Craig Santos Perez

Translation, Conceptualism, Exoticism, Imperialism, & Why Kenneth Goldsmith isn’t as Charming as David Larsen

so after all the discussions about translation, i ordered david larsen’s names of the lion from atticus finch. i heart atticus finch–the most beautiful chapbooks ever.

i also read larsen’s talk “translation as conceptual writing practice,” presented at small press traffic in sept 2009. in this talk, larsen discusses names of the lion and various ideas he has about translation & conceptualism. even though much blood has been spilled discussing translation here at harriet, i think larsen’s talk brings up some interesting points that we havent yet discussed. i would love to hear your thoughts on larsen’s ideas, and i will of course share my own in the comments.

02.15.10 PERMALINK | COMMENTS (37)