A new interview up, over at Maisonneuve Magazine online, with Zach Wells, talking about his latest collection of poetry, Track & Trace. Enjoy!
Peace,
A
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
New Column
Dear All -
there's a new "In Extremis" column up at Maisonneuve.org (the link follows below). The article, titled "Things Done Changed," discusses how hip-hop and football mix in the Sunshine State!
Also, there's a review of Elizabeth Bachinsky up at Northern Poetry Review for those interested.
Lastly, just a note to let people know that I am now one of two associate editors over at Northern Poetry Review, which is of course very exciting and I look forward to working with Alex Boyd and Lori A. May.
I think that is it, for now.
A
there's a new "In Extremis" column up at Maisonneuve.org (the link follows below). The article, titled "Things Done Changed," discusses how hip-hop and football mix in the Sunshine State!
Also, there's a review of Elizabeth Bachinsky up at Northern Poetry Review for those interested.
Lastly, just a note to let people know that I am now one of two associate editors over at Northern Poetry Review, which is of course very exciting and I look forward to working with Alex Boyd and Lori A. May.
I think that is it, for now.
A
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Interviews, etc.
There's a new interview I conducted with poet Moez Surani, up over at Openbooktoronto.com. I asked Surani some questions about his new, debut book of poetry, titled Reticent Bodies (Wolsak & Wynn). Also, for those interested, and in the greater Toronto area, Moez will be launching his book tomorrow night at Ben McNally Books. Please do check it out.
I've conducted a few interviews over the last few months, and am in the middle of a couple others; it's an interesting genre/event -- I don't think I entirely have a grasp of it yet, but I enjoy it. But what I try to do, ideally (whether I succeed or not I am not entirely sure and not really for me to determine), is generate questions and conversations that emerge, in equal parts, from my reading of the poems, specifically, and the answers the poets offer. (I move one question at a time, awaiting an answer before formulating a next question -- though I certainly have multiple potential areas of inquiry in mind, inevitably the interview can either steer away or move toward such areas. It all depends.)
In large part, my interview process is, I have to admit, a critical response to my dislike of the very popular and common "questionnaire" interview, with preset, non-variable questions, often having nothing to do with the poet/poems. Asking the same questions to the same poets produces remarkably similar interview-reading experiences (tropes of answers). The lack of actual engagement with individual poems, for example, produces a disposable experience -- and, also significant, the interviewee is more inclined to view the event not an interview at all but rather an opportunity for welcome advertisement (covert, of course, as poets like to elide the presence of such things). I'd much rather particular questions with particular answers. The interviewer should put as much effort into formulating a question as the interviewee does an answer; it's a conversation, after all. The set question format is a formulaic and lazy response to any reading.
Hopefully peeps find the Surani interview interesting. I also have an equally excellent interview I conducted with Zachariah Wells, about his new book -- interview should be up at Maisonneuve.org soon enough. (Speaking of Zach, there's a post here about the question of poem versus project, etc. I don't have anything to add to the discussion, which Zach provides all the links to, except that I don't write projects -- though the title "sequence" [I use that term lightly/mockingly] of my first book, "The Jill Kelly Poems," was meant to be a subtle parodic take on such things, e.g. "The Alice Poems," though nobody ever read 'em as such. Fair enough -- maybe the poems just didn't earn it.)
I've conducted a few interviews over the last few months, and am in the middle of a couple others; it's an interesting genre/event -- I don't think I entirely have a grasp of it yet, but I enjoy it. But what I try to do, ideally (whether I succeed or not I am not entirely sure and not really for me to determine), is generate questions and conversations that emerge, in equal parts, from my reading of the poems, specifically, and the answers the poets offer. (I move one question at a time, awaiting an answer before formulating a next question -- though I certainly have multiple potential areas of inquiry in mind, inevitably the interview can either steer away or move toward such areas. It all depends.)
In large part, my interview process is, I have to admit, a critical response to my dislike of the very popular and common "questionnaire" interview, with preset, non-variable questions, often having nothing to do with the poet/poems. Asking the same questions to the same poets produces remarkably similar interview-reading experiences (tropes of answers). The lack of actual engagement with individual poems, for example, produces a disposable experience -- and, also significant, the interviewee is more inclined to view the event not an interview at all but rather an opportunity for welcome advertisement (covert, of course, as poets like to elide the presence of such things). I'd much rather particular questions with particular answers. The interviewer should put as much effort into formulating a question as the interviewee does an answer; it's a conversation, after all. The set question format is a formulaic and lazy response to any reading.
Hopefully peeps find the Surani interview interesting. I also have an equally excellent interview I conducted with Zachariah Wells, about his new book -- interview should be up at Maisonneuve.org soon enough. (Speaking of Zach, there's a post here about the question of poem versus project, etc. I don't have anything to add to the discussion, which Zach provides all the links to, except that I don't write projects -- though the title "sequence" [I use that term lightly/mockingly] of my first book, "The Jill Kelly Poems," was meant to be a subtle parodic take on such things, e.g. "The Alice Poems," though nobody ever read 'em as such. Fair enough -- maybe the poems just didn't earn it.)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Pork
If you'd like to get a copy of the first issue of Pork, featuring new work by Daniel f. Bradley, David Hadbawnik, Richard Owens, and Jason Camlot, just let me know by sending an email to porkpoems at gmail dot com -- include your mailing address.
A
A
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Shoot -- I forgot to link to this earlier, when it did come out. Here's my review of Clint Burnham's The Benjamin Sonnets. It was -- hands down -- my favorite poetry reading of the summer. Really fantastic. Kudos to BookThug for getting the book out there; and thanks to Stuart Ross and Denis De Klerck for publishing the review. Also, though I didn't mention it in the review, the cover for the book is fantastic (it's there to view via the link).
Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for a couple more interviews (Moez Surani, Zachariah Wells), a review of Elizabeth Bachinsky, and a couple other things in October -- a look at Kool Keith, Doom, and Su Ra's Afro-intergalactics for the next installment of "In Extremis".
Peace,
A
Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for a couple more interviews (Moez Surani, Zachariah Wells), a review of Elizabeth Bachinsky, and a couple other things in October -- a look at Kool Keith, Doom, and Su Ra's Afro-intergalactics for the next installment of "In Extremis".
Peace,
A
Saturday, August 29, 2009
A couple additions to the info below:
[1] an excellent interview I conducted with Zachariah Wells will be up at Maisonneuve online (www.maisonneuve.org) at the end of the month / start of Oct., as Wells's latest book (the subject of the interview) will be out at that point. Be sure to check it out.
[2] Next April, in Denver, at the AWP, I'll be chairing and participating in a panel titled "The Dramatic Monologue in Contemporary Canadian Poetry" -- other participants include David McGimpsey, David O'Meara, Carolyn Smart, and Jeanette Lynes. Should be fun.
I'm sick these days; trying to finish up a couple last things before school begins Monday. Trying to get healthy before next Friday, when I travel to Portland for a wedding.
Peace,
A
[1] an excellent interview I conducted with Zachariah Wells will be up at Maisonneuve online (www.maisonneuve.org) at the end of the month / start of Oct., as Wells's latest book (the subject of the interview) will be out at that point. Be sure to check it out.
[2] Next April, in Denver, at the AWP, I'll be chairing and participating in a panel titled "The Dramatic Monologue in Contemporary Canadian Poetry" -- other participants include David McGimpsey, David O'Meara, Carolyn Smart, and Jeanette Lynes. Should be fun.
I'm sick these days; trying to finish up a couple last things before school begins Monday. Trying to get healthy before next Friday, when I travel to Portland for a wedding.
Peace,
A
Monday, August 17, 2009
Off the presses (hot!): Population Me: Essays on David McGimpsey -- edited by Alessandro Porco (i.e. yours truly) will be published in the Spring of 2010 by Palimpsest Press. The book includes an introduction, nine essays, plus a lengthy interview with McGimpsey, conducted by Jason Camlot and myself. Get your popcorn read, and please tell anyone and everyone. More info to follow.
There's a cool interview I conducted with Chris Hutchinson here:
http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/shivering_romantic_interview_with_chris_hutchinson
His new book is titled Other People's Lives and it is excellent. Stay tuned as there will be an interview I conducted with Moez Surani forthcoming at OpenBookToronto.com as well. Surani has a book forthcoming, titled Reticent Bodies. An excellent debut collection.
There's also some reviews forthcoming: a review-essay on Clint Burnham's The Benjamin Sonnets (my favourite book this past summer, published by Book Thug) is forthcoming from The Mansfield Revue; a short review of Stephen Cain's Wordwards (No. Press) and Montreality (BookThug) forthcoming from Matrix; a review-essay on Elizabeth Bachinsky's God of Missed Connections (Nightwood) and the Curio re-issue; and short reviews of Joan Crate's SubUrban Legends and Ela Przybylo's Threats of Intimacy; and a short review of Dalton Higgins's Hip-Hop World in a forthcoming Quill and Quire. That was my summer work, along with finishing a dissertation chapter. That's it reviewing wise for a while (though a couple of things will pop up here and there throughout the school year, which begins in two weeks -- yikes).
Peace,
A
There's a cool interview I conducted with Chris Hutchinson here:
http://www.openbooktoronto.com/news/shivering_romantic_interview_with_chris_hutchinson
His new book is titled Other People's Lives and it is excellent. Stay tuned as there will be an interview I conducted with Moez Surani forthcoming at OpenBookToronto.com as well. Surani has a book forthcoming, titled Reticent Bodies. An excellent debut collection.
There's also some reviews forthcoming: a review-essay on Clint Burnham's The Benjamin Sonnets (my favourite book this past summer, published by Book Thug) is forthcoming from The Mansfield Revue; a short review of Stephen Cain's Wordwards (No. Press) and Montreality (BookThug) forthcoming from Matrix; a review-essay on Elizabeth Bachinsky's God of Missed Connections (Nightwood) and the Curio re-issue; and short reviews of Joan Crate's SubUrban Legends and Ela Przybylo's Threats of Intimacy; and a short review of Dalton Higgins's Hip-Hop World in a forthcoming Quill and Quire. That was my summer work, along with finishing a dissertation chapter. That's it reviewing wise for a while (though a couple of things will pop up here and there throughout the school year, which begins in two weeks -- yikes).
Peace,
A
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