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I just went on Amazon today to purchase a book by Kenneth Goldsmith. It turns out this is totally unnecessary. When I looked around to see which book might be best to buy first, I found that his EPC page has a great deal, if not all, of his published poetry in their complete forms. I found myself running into his essays and interviews in various places, and I have quoted his ideas about poetics and publishing in a few posts and essays for the Craft of Poetry class I took last year for my degree. I should have used Day or The Weather as examples of “craft,” along with the Flarf poets, but I had not read them yet.
I encourage you to read about him, and especially to take note of the directions he is taking poetry in.
Some suggested texts/resources on Goldsmith:
- Poetry on his EPC page: Head Citations, The Weather, No. 111.2.7.93-10.20.96
- A documentary (also free for online viewing and download): “sucking on words”
- The King of Boredom: A Tribute to Jackson Mac Low
- Jacket 21: Marjorie Perloff, A Conversation with Kenneth Goldsmith
- “Petty Theft: Kenny G Gives A’s for Uncreativity”
I’ve just finished my unexpectedly involved response to the Issue 1 anthology edited by Jim Carpenter and Stephen McLaughlin. It’s posted over at my machine poetics blog, I don’t want to be judged a person!. I’ve written about Jim Carpenter and Erica T. Carter there before, which may account for the jump in hits since Oct. 3, so thanks guys!
Hey, I’ve written for hours about it there, so I’m not going to spend any more time on it here. Go read it and let me know what you think.
Well, I’m a third of the way towards my M.F.A. thesis and I need to start looking (already) at what I’m doing after this. I’m not as anxious as I thought I would be, but that’s probably because I’m excited at some of the possibilities of what I could do.
First, I’ve had the dream for years of studying Tibetan and Buddhism more intensely, so I’m checking out some Buddhist Studies Programs with Language. There are quite a few in India and Nepal that teach in English, but I’m concerned about financing this thing, so I’m focusing more within the United States. I should be receiving info from Naropa Institute soon.
Second, I’m eying the University of Buffalo Poetics program as another option. I think poetics will be where I end up either way, but I’m not certain yet if I want to focus first on Buddhist scholarship (it has long influenced my writing and thinking) so as to work on some idea of a Buddhist Poetic Methodology using digital techniques and programming as a set of tools toward this end, or if I want to jump right into studying digital poetics.
These are the ideas I’m working with, but it also might end up still with me taking some years to work before moving (I think) back to academia. I’m coming to like the role of teacher and the idea of being a professor more and more now. I think it may be the place that I belong best in, in this society at least.
This morning Congress has received a letter signed by (at my last count) about 240 economists and growing. It briefly lays out 3 “major pitfalls” of the proposed treasury bailout plan (don’t let them get away with calling it a “rescue plan”) and urges care and caution in coming up with a plan that actually makes sense.
I wonder if any of these economists will show up on the 24-hour news cycles now to expand upon their disagreements. Somehow I doubt it. DemocracyNow! will probably pick that one up.
