Sunday, October 05, 2008
One advantage of e-books is that you can have an odd number of pages, like Issue 1’s 3,785-page debut. A second is that you aren’t bound, literally, by the physics of binding. A 3,785-page “book” is not an impossibility.
These are not, however, the only quirky things about Issue 1, nor even the most quirky things. The issue advertises itself as “new poetry” by its contributors, and the list is both long and impressive:
Nada Gordon, Evelyn Reilly, Julianna Mundim, Emmy Catedral, Enid Bagnold, Richard Siken, Stephen Ratcliffe, Michael Gottlieb, Jodie Childers, Norman J. Olson, Brent Hendricks, Sean Kilpatrick, Tom McCarthy, Stacy Doris, Michael Rerick, Corrinne Clegg Hales, Mark Decarteret, Hadewijch of Antwerp, Darren Wershler-Henry, Letitia Trent, Debra Di Blasi, Laura Elrick, Bruna Mori, Popahna Brandes, Robert Sheppard, Diana Magallan, Kristine Danielson, Ed Higgins, Drew Gardner, Kyle Kaufman, Matthew Thorburn, Tiel Aisha Ansari, Christopher Wells, Vanessa Place, Simon Pettet, Grace Vajda, John Bennett, Ian Patterson, Joseph Hutchison, John Cotter, Cheryl Lawson Walker, Scott Esposito, Jason Nelson, Daniel Kane, Kimo Armitage, Alan May, J.D. Nelson, Bob Hershon, Jennifer Karmin, Kim Rosenfield, Nathan Austin, Pearl Pirie, Rosmarie Waldrop, Tara Betts, Donald Revell, Jim Ryals, Danuta Kean, Jeff VanderMeer, Alfredo Bonanno, Irene Latham, Michael Hennesy, Dick Higgins, John Hanson, Billy Merrell, Sam Ladkin, Jeff Ward, Debra Jenks, K. Lorraine Graham, Kenji Okuhira, Sean MacInnes, Adam Seelig, Steve Halle, David Mus, Monique Wittig, Joyelle McSweeney, Daniel E. Levenson, Luke Daly, Henry Thoreau, John Palattella, Abby Trenaman, Kristen Taylor, Vassily Kamensky, David Jhave Johnston, Gene Tanta, Cate Marvin, Alison Roth, Shad Marsh, Asher Ghaffar, Henry Gould, Justin Theroux, Susan Grimm, Bernard Wilson, Ateet Tuli, Laura Moriarty, Mark McMorris, Cruickshank-Hagenbuckle, Jeffrey Cyphers Wright, William Shakespeare, Nick Trinen, Daphne Gottlieb, Magdalena Zurawski, A.K. Arkadin, Matthue Roth, Douglas J. Belcher, After Bitahatini, Neil Schmitz, Liz Henry, Tom Hansen, Craig Saper, Pris Campbell, Afua-Kafi Akua, Amish Trivedi, Chris Hutchinson, Cath Vidler, Sarah Weinman, A.E. Stallings, Robin Blaser, Roland Prevost, Mac Wellman, Steven Schroeder, Joy Garnett, Mark Lamoureux, Julie Clark, Bob Garlitz, Jeff Hamilton, Kara Dorris, Maureen Thorson, Irv Muchnick, Frank O'Hara, Robin Magowan, C. Allen Rearick, A. J. Patrick Liszkiewicz, Tony Leuzzi, Bhanu Kapil, Sage U`ilani Takehiro, Shellie Zacharia, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Camille Martin, Eliot Weinberger, David Nemeth, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Iris Smyles, Bertolt Brecht, David Forbes, Colin Herd, Sergio Bessa, Zach Wollard, Adam Ford, Claudia Keelan, Hank Sotto, Jamba Dunn, Ken Mikolowski, Jean-Jacques Poucel, Santiago B. Villafania, David Valentinovia, Robert Kaufman, Dominique Meens, Joe Elliot, August Stramm, Justin Katko! Sandra Korchenko, Carol Peters, Lilah Hegnauer, Brian Evenson, Wallace Stevens, Timothy Murphy, Joseph Bradshaw, Nick Courtright, Adam Chiles, James, Kane X. Faucher, David Abel, Ray Succre, Gabriel Gudding, Antonin Artaud, Mark Cunningham, Paul Fattaruso, William Saroyan, Aaron McCollough, Confucius/Ezra Pound, David Antin, Rob Mackenzie, Ryan Eckes, Christian Peet, Peter Riley, Litsa Spathi, Anna Ahkmatova, Mark Tursi, J.D. Schraffenberger, Greg Fuchs, Sean Casey, Orpingalik, Hassan Melehy, Rosemarie Waldrop, Phillip Lund, Adam Aitken, Michael Davidson, Andrea Rexilius, William Allegrezza, Raymond Queneau, Fred Wah, Marcia Arrieta, Elizabeth Cross, Jonathan Greene, Gregory Laynor, Preston Spurlock, Jane Sprague, Kevin Thurston, Stephen Berry, William Bronk, Claudia Rankine, Steve Dalachinsky, Ed Sanders, Sam Rasnake, Wes Smiderle, James Belflower, Simmons B. Buntin, Dolores Dorantes, Emilie Clark, Leslie Marmon Silko, Sarah O'Brien, Jack Tricarico, Gerard Van der Luen, Frances Richard, Charlie Bertsch, Bob Cobbing, Sabrina Calle, Steven Burt, Stephane Mallarme, Bob Marcacci, Edwin Torres, Lois Marie Harrod, Evgeny Maizel, Luc Simonic, Lawrence Durrell, Amanda Davidson, Pendergast, Gregory Orr, Lepson, Joseph Duemer, Eric Alterman, Erin M. Bertram, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Suzanne Buffam, Andy Nicholson, Edward Champion, Katy Acheson, Okey Ndibe, Jennifer Mulligan, Renee Zepeda, Alfred Kubin, Sawako Nakayasu, David Prater, Forrest Gander, Mike Gubser, Virginia Heatter, Leslie Winer, Ed Schenk, Doug Holder, Russell Ragsdale, Jose Manuel Velazquez, Dick Jones, Gerry Loose, Daniel J. Vaccaro, Rafael Alberti, Jeff Newberry, Igor Terentiev, Micah Robbins, Friedrich Holderlin, Arif Khan, Laurel Dodge, Ann White, Nicolas Guillen, John Lowther, Cathleen Miller, Josef Vachal, Chris Moran, Miyazawa Kenji, Robert Fitterman, Norman Mailer, Doris Shapiro, Talan Menmott, Alan Licht, John Godfrey, James Maughn, Anne Heide, Jasmine Dreame Wagner, Lina ramona Vitkauskas, Judith Goldman, Rich Murphy, Halvard Johnson, Ariel Dorfman, Ed Baker, Maryrose Larkin, Sheila E. Murphy, Rosanna Warren, Jean Cocteau, Clarence Major, Eleanor Stanford, Teresa Carmody, Kenward Elmslie, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ryan Walker, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Nava Fader, Rob Budde, Allison Cobb, Robert Roley, Alison Collins, Melissa Fondakowski, Nathan Whiting, Jess Rowan, Cid Corman, Bob Heman, Libby Rosof, Cassie Lewis, Scott Saner, Roberta Allen, Raymond Farr, Anne Pierson Wiese, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Troy Lloyd, Lindsay Boldt, Andrea Baker, Meredith Quartermain, Richard Meier, Louise Mathias, Joseph Cooper, Lynn Strongin, Outlines, Suzanne Stein, Richard de Nooy, Sherry, Robert Chrysler, Ton van't Hof, Peter Cole, Michael Slosek, June Jordan, Andrew Zitka, Eve Babitz, G.C. Waldrep, Craig Santos Perez, James Sherry, Hugh, David R. Slavitt, Dino Campana, Stephen Berer, Alastair Johnston, Angela Jaeger, Javier Huerta, Jed Birmingham, David Harrison Horton, Alan Baker, Steve Clay, Kevin Coval, Tony Brown, Debesh Goswami, Michael Farrell, Abigail Child, Tanya Larkin, Ron Slate, Emmanuel Hocquard, Lauren Dixon, Jan Zwicky, Andrew Joron, Jessica Wickens, Arthur Sze, David Baptiste Chirot, Steven May, Rob Cook, Ankur Saha, ric Unger, Chris Heilman, James Purdy, Derek Henderson, James Collins, L.J. Moore, Michael McClure, D.S. Marriott, Michael Heller, Robert Mittenthal, Eileen Tabios, Aki Salmela, Lou Rowan, Jerome Seaton, Lori Lubeski, Paul Hardacre, Rus Bowden, John Wieners, Lauren Levin, Johanna Drucker, Velimir Khlebnikov, Terry Bisson, Martha Plimpton, Miklos Radnoti, Ken Kesey, Matvei Yankelevich, Seth Forrest, Maria Damon, David MacDuff, Kevin Doran, Rob Read, Kristen Gallagher, Rick Visser, Andrei Bely, Sara Crangle, Karl Klingbiel, Jackson Mac Low, Fox, Derik Badman, Paul Griffiths, Oliver Rohe, Mark L. Lilleleht, Michelle Bautista, Monica Schley, Aaron Levy, andrew nightingale, Douglas Messerli, Pattie McCarthy, David West, Jon McKenzie, James Weber, Carlos Rojas, Donatella Izzo, Francois Luong, Daniel Borzutzky, Umm Zaid, Tony D'Arpino, James Tierney, Tao Lin, Rochelle Owens, Amy Friedman, Natalie Zina Walschots, Kayin Wong, Emily Sher, Deborah R. Geis, Kristen Iskandrian, Brother Tom Murphy, Jeremy Gardner, Alcoholic Poet, Chris Mansel, Keith Tuma, Chris Mansell, Rob MacDonald, Yuan Mei, Stanislaw Witkiewicz, Joshua Schuster, Glenn Bach, Maureen Owen, Richard Wink, Guy Bennett, Eric Elshtain, Reza Shirazi, Tonya Foster, Karl Kempton, Allan Gurganus, Alizon Brunning, Christopher Davis, Richard Foreman, Francois Luong, Yvonne Werkman, rob mclennan, Mark McCarthy, Bill Marsh, Tom Devaney, John Most, Nick Moudry, Jennifer Reimer, Charles Baudelaire, Gabriel Pomerand, Crane Giamo, Vernon Frazer, Mike Basinski, Oliver de la Paz, Leon Damas, Mark Ducharme, Jim Leftwich, Eliot Katz, Pat Lawrence, Jeff Daily, Jefferson Navicky, Tom Savage, Legs McNeil, mIEKAL aND, Leevi Lehto, Allyson Clay, Cy Mathews, Dereck Clemons, Clayton Eshleman, Benjamin Parzybok,Kevin Isu, Laura Mullen, Angelo Suarez, Kate Greenstreet, Andrew Burke, Natalie Simpson, Susan Smith Nash, Peter Gizzi, Dana Goodyear, Terence Winch, Sandy McIntosh, Cris Mazza, James Thurber, Sarah O’Brien, Firoze Shakir, Elizabeth Castagna, D.J. Huppatz, David Koehn, Kyra Saari, Philip Jenks, Martin Corless-Smith, Jacques Leslie, Will Gallien, Mathew Timmons, Eric Lochridge, Buck Downs, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Leonard Michaels, Francis Raven, seflo, Nina Shope, Carson Cistulli, Jennifer Banks, Deborah Burnham, Steve Langan, Rosalva Garcia Coral, Betty Stork, Erica Van Horn, Anna Evans, Lizzie Skurnick, Skip Fox, Olde Quietude, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jonathan Williams, Sarah Maclay, Pablo Neruda, Richard Tuttle, Fran Herndon, Cheryl Clark, Allen Itz, Derek White, Barry MacSweeney, Eben Eldridge, Sandra Ridley, Normie Salvador, Priscilla Long, Alan Gilbert, Dennis Tedlock, Steve Benson, Brian Whitener, Rene Char, Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite, Teresa Ballard, Barbara Henning, Mario Melendez, Jacques Demarcq, Harvey Bialy, Gary Norris, Kerry Shawn Keys, Dawn Pendergast, Aimee Parkison, Michael Cooper, Chris Killen, Les Webb, Roberta Fallon, John Fillwalk, Stephen McLaughlin, Elizabeth Robinson, Bob Heffernan, Zak Smith, Nicholas Lea, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Dan Beachy-Quick, Ross White, Stan Mir, Tim Atkins, Poppy Z. Brite, Dylan Hock, Kurt Vonnegut, Mez Breeze, Stephanie Heit, J. Mason, Colleen Lookingbill, John Hall, Michelle Morgan, Alexi Parshchikov, Clemente Padin, Lisa Jarnot, Lance & Andrea Olsen, Mark Wallace, Nancy Kuhl, Xu Smith, Jorge de Lima, Hillary Lyon, Clayton Couch, Gunnar Ekelof, Alex Caldiero, Clifford Burke, Karri Kokko, Brent Goodman, Daniel Clowes, Todd Suomela, Arlene Ang, David McDuff, Bill Sherman, Ezra Mark, Kathryn Pringle, Jem Cohen, Adam Tobin, Thomas Meyer, Clifford Duffy, Anne Waldman, Nancy Shaw, Pilar Olabarria, Chris Maher, Ezra Pound, David Hilmer, Rex, Levari, Jerome Sala, Ryan Collins, Alexander Jorgensen, Shouva Chattopadhyay, Linda Susan Jackson, Jonathan Mayhew, Pejk Malinovski, Michael Parker, Claude Simon, Ian Keenan, Peter O'Brien, Jeannie Hoag, Marcel Janko, Beverly Jackson, Loren Webster, Daniel Knudsen, Michael P. Steven, Rose Kelleher, Mare Mikolum, Marcel Broodthaers, Reb Livingston, Steven Lohse, Faye Smailes, Thomas Kinsella, Peter Middleton, Kurt Schwitters, Lou Suarez, Jay Millar, Paul Holman, Michael Palmer, Larry Eigner, Jean-Michel Espitallier, Charles Bernstein, Bill Allegrezza, Tenney Nathanson, Jeff Crouch, Brian Spears, Peter Makin, Lynn Crosbie, Michael Carr, Robinson Jeffers, Fanny Howe, David Vincenti, Erica Wessmann, Lydia Davis, Craig Teicher, Jorge Luiz Antonio, Matt Christie, Jean-Patrice Courtois, Gregory Pardlo, Nathaniel Tarn, Simone Fattal, Orhan Pamuk, Ofelia Hunt, Louise Gluck, David Pavelich, Lanny Quarles, George Seferis, Louise Bogan, Susan Minot, Star Black, Ted Stimpfle, Michael Lally, Sean Whelan, Arlo Quint, Grace Molisa, Jasmine Dream Wagner, Armand Schwerner, Anselm Parlatore, Tom Orange, Frank Kuenstler, Robin Coste Lewis, MacLaren Ross, Nick, Katey Nicosia, Geraldine Connolly, Sharanya Manivannan, Maud Newton, Kerri French, Charles Shere, Stephen Burt, Tony Fitzpatrick, Mark Peters, A. R. Ammons, Jenny Davidson, Tom Hopkins, Laurie Price, Woody Haut, Jim Toweill, Anne Tardos, Ronald Johnson, Will Skinker, Linda Marie Walker, Dave Schiralli, Rachel Talentino, Christopher McVey, Jordan Davis, Chris Tonelli, Patrick Culliton, Michael Basinski, Christina Brown, Kathleen Rooney & Elisa Gabbert, Maria Benet, Regis Bonvicino, Richard Huelsenbeck, Julia Cohen, Jim Behrle, Stephanie Bolster, Timothy Liu, Donna Brook, Kristin Abraham, Marcus Bales, Patricia Wellingham Jones, Susie Timmons, Clayton A. Couch, Myung Mi Kim, John Litzenberg, Zoe Strauss, Jonathan Meakin, Janine Pommy Vega, John Matthew, Robert Sund, Janne Nummela, Robert Archambeau, Dodie Bellamy, Meghan Scott, Stephen Johnson, Brenda Schmidt, Lisa Flaherty, Martine Bellen, Ron Loewinsohn, Darryl Keola Cabacungan, Chris Ransick, Sean T. Hanratty, Tim Gaze, Kathleen Rooney, Tom Mandel, AnnMarie Eldon, Tom Peters, Billy Jones, Gilbert Adair, Jim Behrle, Peter Jay Shippy, Amanda Laughtland, Juliet Cook, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Brian Smith, Aldo Palazzeschi, Richard Denner, Anthony Robinson, Chris Tysh, Christopher Stackhouse, Paul Muldoon, Stefania Iryne Marthakis, Ellen Orleans, Robin Reagler, Susan Maxwell, Delia Mellis, John Baker, Jack Boettcher, Lex Camena, Jeffery Bahr, Veronica Montes, Miriam Nichols, Phil Hall, Tyler Carter, Jessica Treat, Mairead Byrne, C.S. Carrier, C.L. Bledsoe, Barbara Maloutas, Peter Schjeldahl, Marc Andre Robinson, Morgan Lucas Schultdt, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Rebecca Hazelton, Ryan Bird, Ernst Meister, Edith Sodergran, Bronwen Tate, Joritz-Nakagawa, Sharon Mollerus, Talan Memmott, Robert Burns, Jim Dunn, Matthew Cheney, Edward Nudelman, Subhro Bandopadhyay, Tiff Dressen, Sandy Florian, Jesse Glass, Jennie Skerl, Phil Fried, Eric Gurney, Christof Scheele, Nicholas Rombes, Billy Collins, Eugenio Montale, Gautam Verma, Tyler Cobb, Kendra Malone, Tom Beckett, Vivian Vavassis, Jude MacDonald, Joanna Sondheim, Paul Naylor, Kazim Ali, Josh Corey, Patrick Donnelly and Stephen Miller, Ari Bania, Geoffrey G. O'Brien, Leonard Kress, Philippe Soupault, Steve Caratzas, Joseph Mains, William Yazbec, Standard Schaefer, Betsy Andrews, Carlo Carra, Marie Hopkins, Anna Maria Hong, Burt Kimmelman, Karen J. Weyant, Max Middle, Joan Retallack, Gil Ott, Dennis Cooper, David Matlin, Tino Gomez, B.J. Love, Helen White, John Crowley, Weldon Kees, Louis Zukofsky, David Trinidad, Andrew Peterson, Bill Seaman and Penny Florence, Heather O'Neill, Reginald Shepherd, Annie Guthrie, Ammiel Alcalay, Carton Tragedy, Alfred Corn, Barbara Smith, Jozef Imrich, Yagi Mikajo, Stephen Thomson, Mark Rudman, Jena Osman, Ernesto Priego, Ken Springtail, Sam Beckbessinger, Cecilia Vicuna, Behm-Steinberg, Kate Schapira, Deidre Elizabeth, Jean Lehrman, Seth Landman, Ana Bozicevic-Bowling, Jess Mynes, Will Yackulic, Caroline Wilkinson, Maria Sabina, eldon, Richard Lighthouse, Michael Smoler, Henry Hills, Mark Marino, Poton, Thomas O'Connell, David Henderson, Michael Cross, Maralyn Lois Polak, Joe Brennan, Alice Cary, Erica Kaufman, Lewis Warsh, Steve Evans, David Byrne, Frank Parker, Kaz Maslanka, Jenna Cardinale, Peter Straub, EK Smith, Megan Martin, Meghan Punschke, Sherry Chandler, E. Tracy Grinnell, Tom Muir, Jeff Davis, F. Daniel Rzicznek, Diana Magallon and Jeff Crouch, Kyle Schlesinger, Stuart Dybek, Marco Giovenale, Zach Savich, Tom Wegrzynowski, Arnie Hoffman, Rikki Ducornet, Dawn, Thomas Fink, Christian Jensen, Andrew Philip, Dave Pollard, Miriam Burstein, Jessica Bozek, Patrick So, Joe Massey, Carmine Starnino, Evan Kennedy, Chris Vitiello, Nick Bruno, Amy Newman, Sharon Gilbert, Aaron Tieger, William Wordsworth, Eugenio Tisselli, julia doughty, Marko Niemi, Pierre Reverdy, Lytton Smith, Lee Gurga, Jed Shahar, Tim Hunt, Lee Upton, Mark Scroggins, Rachel Smith, Robert Wodzinski, Matthew Blake, Matina Stamatakis, Robert Waxman, Jack McGuane, Bethany Ides, Alfred Arteaga, Kat Meads, Sandra Gilbert, Carlo Parcelli, Jeff Calhoun, John Bryant, Jasper Bernes, Jeffrey Joe Nelson, Joan Houlihan, Lynn Behrendt, Jack Kerouac, Brenda Iijima, James Koller, Sun Yung Shin, Ixta Menchaca, John Barton, Piero Heliczer, Todd Colby, Awotunde Aworinde, Emma Barnes, Allison Whittenberg, Jenni Russell, Rowan Wilken, Daniela Olszewska, Layne Russell, George Oppen, Ben Yarmolinsky, Phil Cordelli, Andrew Kozma, Harry Wilkens, Jonathan Lethem, Richard Gorecki, Jilly Dybka, Kirthi Nath, Jennifer Bredl, Paolo Buzzi, Aime Cesaire & Rene Depestre, Ruben Dario, Rachel Loden, William Bryant, hassen, Kerryn Goldsworthy, Jessamyn West, Salvador Dali, Greg Djanikian, George M Wallace, Sharon Brogan, Roger Farr, Lesley Yalen, Jessica Tillyer, Cathy Eisenhower, Noah Falck, Beka Goedde, Patrick Lovelace, Erik
Anderson, Shahar Gold, Olivier Cadiot, Peter O'Leary, Mel Nichols, Juan Felipe Herrera, Mirabai, Rob Mackenzie, Bethany Wright, Joseph Mosconi, MTC Cronin, Terrance Hayes, Bryson Newhart, Yoko Ono, Gherardo Bortolotti, Olli Sinivaara, Jim Crace, Brendan Lorber, Tracie Morris, Jeffrey Side, Brent Cunningham, Henry Miller, Christina McPhee, Mike Nicoloff, Ray Federman, Valerie Coulton, HL Hazuka, Ari Banias, Thomas Hummel, Nicolette Bond, J.F. Quackenbush, Julia Stein, Bill Borneman, Jon Link, Steve Dickison, Scott Helmes, Brion Gysin, Sean Burke, Laynie Brown (sic) , Hermit-Sage Tradition, Jane Dark, Scott Withiam, Lance Phillips, Michael Ford, John Olson, John Bailey, Rebecca Morgan Frank, Derek Motion, Ashby Tyler, Sarah Campbell, Andrea Strudensky, Roger Gilbert-Lecomte, Mathias Svalina, Ishle Yi Park, Dubravka Djuriƒá, John McHale, Grant-Lee Phillips, Jeremy Czerw, Richard Newman, Diana Slampyak, David McFadden, Jim McGrath, Gregory Crosby, tyler funk, Kristi Maxwell, Vladimir Zykov, Daniel Brenner, Don Mee Choi, Ted Greenwald, Meena Alexander, Sarah Mangold, Steve McCaffery, Jill Magi, Glen Bach, Hank Lazer, Stephen Brockwell, Helen Adam, Sasha Steensen, Ryan Alexander MacDonald, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Jack Morgan, Jr., Radu Dima, Larissa Szporluk, Teresia Teaiwa, Amiri Baraka, Monica Mody, Vincent Katz, Jen Benka, Roberto Harrison, Edward Byrne, Patrick Rosal, Cheryl Townsend, Carol Novack, Clive Thompson, Mary Biddinger, Erica Lewis, Michael Robins, Mira Schor, Severo Sarduy, John Taggart, Lauren Krueger, Wanda O‚ÄôConnor, Peter Van Toorn, Kevin Varrone, Mark Axelrod, Erica Svec, Erik Donald France, Daniel Green, Marilyn Hacker, Ben Wilkinson, Stephanie Young, David Hall, Joe Moffet, Ric Royer, Basil Bunting, Peter Everwine, Terryanne Chebet, Philip Messenger, Maurice Sendak, Barrett Gordon, Shonni Enelow, Hannah Weiner, Dan Vera, Kristin Berkey-Abbott, Douglas James Martin, Randall Williams, Phil Crippen, Roy Kiyooka, Anita Dolman, Chris Martin, Max Ernst, Michael Rothenberg, Adeena Karasick, D.H. Lawrence, Sean O Riordain, Anne Kaier, Simone dos Anjos, Brian McMahon, Josef Capek, Gloria Oden, Georges Hugnet, Sekuo Sendiata, Timothy Yu, Craig Dworkin, Mary Ann Sullivan, Guillermo Juan Parra, Paul Klinger, Catherine Wagner, Angela Veronica Wong, Terence Gower, Chris Toll, Francis Picabia, David Bromige, John Estes, Kenneth Koch, John Moore Williams, harry k. stammer, Kyle Gann, Paul Guest, Carl Rakosi, Cole Porter, Ray Craig, Bob Holman, Jordan Stempleman, Gilbert Sorrentino, Larissa Shmailo, Kris Hemensley, Jennifer Manzano, Peter Culley, Dan Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, Lloyd Schwartz, Peter Larkin, MaryLou Sanelli, Clare Latremouille, Karla Kelsey, Peter Magliocco, Bruce Stewart, Kyle Simonsen, Glenn Ingersoll, Teri Hoskin, Henry Louis Gates, John Mcmahon, Dan Raphael, Tanya Allen, Annie Finch, Mitch, Bill Kushner, Rochita Ruiz, Tom Gilroy, Yashodhara Raychaudhuri, Elaine Terranova, Tom Hibbard, Joel Nichols, Don Cheney, Ashraf Osman, Melanie Little, Barbara Cole, Chris Higgs, Paul van Ostaijen, Kate Hill Cantrill, George Kalamaras, Ren Powell, Steve Smith, Lloyd Mintern, Denise Duhamel, Veselovsky Pitts, G.L. Ford, Stanton, Kyle Minor, Bradford Haas, Kristy Bowen, Mingus Tourette, Anna Joy Springer, Laetitia Sonami, Sam Silva, Candace Kaucher, James Dickey, Kit Kennedy, Jill Jones, Susan Scarlata, Jack Kimball, Mary-Anne Breeze, Frederico Garcia Lorca, George Kalamaris, Raymond Hsu, Joshua Arnold, Bernadette Mayer, Calvin Bedient, Rachel Tompa, Nathan Curnow, Noel Sloboda, Doug Macpherson, Vivien Bittencourt, Steve Roggenbuck, Jules Boykoff, Jessica Lawless, Raymond Federman, Sandra Miller, Amos Bronson Alcott, Marina Garcia-Vasquez, Mathew Timmons, Paul Killebrew, Mike Young, John Tipton, Chad Parenteau, Michelle Cross, Eric Abbott, Hayden Carruth, Dream Bitches, William James Austin, St. Teresa of Lisieux, Donald Hall, Karen Weiser, Marty Hebrank, Liberty Heise, Kyle Stich, Charles Reznikoff, Chris Felver, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Henry David Thoreau, Frances Driscoll, Leonard Gontarek, Edward Smallfield, Chris McCreary, Steven Zultanski, Peter Pereira, Marthe Reed, Mackenzie Carignan, Victor Hugo, Rebecca Gopoian, Ivy Alvarez, [Mitch?] Highfill, Harry Gilonis, Sotere Torregian, Judy Kamilhor, Justin Sirois, Suzanna Gig, Peter Seaton, Julie Carr, Mazie Louise Montgomery, Sean Reagan, Tennesee Williams, Anne Kellas, Christopher Nealon, Joan McCracken, Malcolm Phillips, Christopher Casamassima, Andrew Steinmetz, Tom Sheehan, L.Y. Marlow, Martin Larsen, Susana Gardner, David Weinberger, Bill Cohen, Sasha Sommeil, Jill Chan, Josh Robinson, Crag Hill, William Burroughs, Ruthven Todd, Annie Proulx, Monty Reid, Simon Perchik, A.K. Scipioni, Ron Hogan, Marcel Duchamp, Thomas Day, Bob Arnold, Rabia al Basri, Michael Andre, Raymond Foss, Ruby Mohan, Kate Schatz, Elizabeth Smith, Tom Matrullo, Carmen Racovitza, Blake Butler, Maggie O'Sullivan, Eugene Ostashevsky, Therese Halscheid, Lauren Levato, Hermann Hesse, Christian Prigent, Michael Reid Busk, Caroline Sinavaiana, Marcia Roberts, Muriel Rukeyser, Jessica Watson, sara seinberg, Garth Whelan, Peter Ramos, Harry K Stammer, Tom Jones, Arjun Chandramohan Bali, Lawrence Joseph, Lee Posna, Tim Mcnulty, Patrick James Dunagan, Laurie Clark, Sabbir Azam, George Green, David Maney, Jill Alexander Essbaum, Jenny Allan, Gary L. McDowell, Samuel Wharton, Leonard Cohen, Kyle Conner, Maxine Hong Kingston, Stephanie Strickland, Michael Schiavo, Lynne Tillman, Jesus Manuel Mena Garza, David-Baptiste Chirot, Augustine Porras, Juan J. Morales, Tim Z. Hernandez, Diane Ward, Donald Marshall, Jack Collom, Paul Lyons, Megan Kaminski, Chris Fritton, Paul Vermeersch, Aaron Lowinger, Bob Perelman, Steve Yarbrough, J.H. Prynne, Amy King, Geoffrey Chaucer, Joel Dailey, Christopher Hennessy, Meghan O'Rourke and Cathy Park Hong, Jennifer Scappettone, David Hecker, Carl Brush, Joy Hendrickson-Turner, Leny Strobel, John Timpane, Amanda Watson, Cate Peebles, Danny Snelson, Christopher Mulrooney, Jaime Anne Earnest, Trina Gaynon, Caleb Puckett, Weyman Chan, Patricia Dienstfrey, Evelio Rojas, Susan Tichy, Shawn McKinney, Gerald Bosacker, Joel Kuszai, Norman Lock, Eric Gelsinger, Suzanne Frischkorn, Gabor Szilasi, Shannon Smith, Peter J. Grieco, Nasra al Adawi, Anna Moschovakis, Charles Henri Ford, Nicholas Downing, Sharron Proulx-Turner, Richard Long, Majena Mafe, Timothy Kreiner, Jorge Luis Borges, Lucebert, Chuck Stebelton, John Sparrow, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Jee Leong oh, Sophie Robinson, Carol Mirakove, Susan Stewart, Adalaide Morris, Camille Bacos, Diane Williams, Robert J. Baumann, Kristi Castro, Don Illich, Holly Anderson, C.D. Wright, Jerome McGann, Alex Gildzen, Joseph Lease, Allen, Meagan Wilson, David H. Thomas, Jane Thompson, Andrew Zawacki, Gottfried Benn, John Hyland, Jim Morrison, Lyle Daggett, Robert Duncan, Diane Lockward, Kate Daniels, Angela Woodward, Paul Vazquez, Jesse Minkert, E. Ethelbert Miller, Scott Withaim, Arthur Rimbaud, Luc Fierens, Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, Rackstraw Downes, Elizabeth James, Paolo Javier, Robyn Sarah, Rosemarie Crisafi, Wendy Collin Sorin, Jack Hirschman, Flynne Bracker, Rick Wiggins, Baron Wolman, Frederic Tuten, Su Carlson, Raina Leon, C.E. Chaffin, Katrinka Moore, Lucy Anderton, Reyes Cardenas, Mei Mei Chang, Scott Malby, Alice Becker-Ho, Wassily Kandinsky, Bob Hazelton, Leonard Schwartz, Larry Smith, Dave Winer, Ivan Carswell, Genevieve Kaplan, John Findura, Shrikanth Reddy, David Horowitz, Jocelyn Grosse, C. Dale Young, Kiki Smith, Scott K. Odom, Brandon Brown, Tim Lockridge, Lauren Goodwin Slaughter, Steve Luxton, Melissa Buzzeo, Aaron Kunin, Anne Haines, William Carlos Williams, Catherine Daly, Jack Martin, Ocean, Angela Rawlings, Richard Hell, Monica de la Torre, Ruth Lepson, Trevor Calvert, Donato Mancini, Diana Adams, Miranda Mellis, Dust Congress Hackmuth, Philip Whalen, Dan Thomas-Glass, Abigail Licad, Caroline Rothstein, Matt Briggs, Hans Arp, Patrick F. Durgin, Ashley VanDoorn, George Murray, Gerald Bruns, Richard Greenfield, Ken Rumble, John Perrault, Soleida Rios, Andrew Schelling, Robert Marshall, Russell Jaffe, Albert Wendt, Emily Brink, Jennifer Bartlett, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Mecca Sullivan, Ron Silliman, David Caddy, Marcel O'Gorman, Lucy Ives, Sarah Browning, Rob Johnson, Michael Magee, Doug Ireland, Tim Martin, Seth Parker, Yi Sang, Andros Montoya, Allama Prabhu, Jacob Glatshteyn, Dan Waber, Jim Goar, Michael Kelleher, Michael Peverett, Patricia Storms, Howard Junker, N. Scott Momaday, Tsuyoshi Yumoto, Peter Manson, Adam Clay, Sharon Mesmer, Sasha Frere Jones, Ronna Johnson, Murphy, Edward Williams, Bernard Hoepffner, Kareem Estefan, Lindsay Colahan, John Stiles, Ed Barrett, Steven Shaviro, Hart Crane, Thad Rutkowski, Paul Pearson, Jan Pollet, Jon Woodward, Frederick Seidel, Laurie Fuhr, Ku-ualhoa Meyer Ho'omanawanui, Peter Dale Scott, Pablo Picasso, Jeremy Halinen, Damien Hirst, Camille PB, Glenna Luschei, Jimmy Chen, Fairfield Porter, Douglas Coupland, Kismet Al-Hussaini, Kim Hyesoon, Sarah Vap, Carla Harryman, Louise Landes Levi, Kiran Desai, jUStin!katKO, Carol McCarthy, Michael Estabrook, Christian Nicholas, Lauren Russell, Biskit Roth, Ron Koertge, Benjamin Friedlander, Geoff rey Hill, Harold Abramowitz, Allison Carter, Larry Sawyer, Joanne Underwood, James Sanders, James Wagner, Gyula Illyes, Deborah Ager, John M. Bennett, Elizabeth Dorbad, Matthew Langley, Amira Baraka, Adrian Khactu, Aaron Smith, David Christopher LaTerre, Ann Margaret Bogle, George Evans, F.T. Marinetti, Steve Mueske, Barrett Watten, Chris Hamilton-Emery, Travis Jay Morgan, Brian Kim Stefans, Julie Doxsee, Jane Monson, Terrance Diggory, Jeremy McLeod, Len Joy, Carrie Etter, Suzan Frecon, Malia Jackson, Akilah Oliver, Carrie Katz, Michael Gizzi, Benjamin Kroh, Michael Koshkin, David McGimpsey, Paul Hegedus, Heather Christle, Anselm Berrigan, Art Durkee, Marianne Moore, Aleksei Kruchenykh, Tom Wolfe, Phil Primeau, Nona Caspers, Dominic Fox, Nate Ethier, Michelle Greenblatt, Julianna McCarthy, Davide Trame, Aaron Vidaver, Alli Warren, Kathleen Fraser, Paula Bernat Bennett, Jon Rolston, Basil King, Henry Darger, Ray Hsu, P. Inman, Ben Lyle Bedard, Dallas Wiebe, Michael Bernstein, Margaret Stawowy, Nicole Steinberg, Maged Zaher, Andrew Levy, Edwin Rodriguez, Harold Abramowitz, Red Pine, Kenneth Rexroth, Hong Ou, Julian Beck, Piers Hugill, Daniel Nester, Ryan Clifford Daley, Kurt Brown, Mark Halliday, Emily Abendroth, David McLean, Cara Benson, James Joyce, Lara Odell, Katia Kapovich, Arielle Greenberg, Tony Lopez, Charles Bukowski, Laura Moore, Brian Howe, Juana de Ibarbourou, Barry Schwabsky, Susan Briante, Clayton Eschelman, David Hadbawnik, Brett Evans, Susie Bright, Ted Berrigan, Tony Green, Gary Barwin, Alice Notley, Amy Unsworth, Bryan Coffelt, Else von Freytag-Loringhoven, Samantha Barrow, Henry Longfellow, Max Jacob, Renee Gladman, Susan Denning, Matt Reiter, Lee Friedlander, Lars Palm, Nick Carbo, Peter Fox, Robert Wexelblatt, Christina Strong, Sophie Read, Jami Macarty, Breyten Breytenbach, Lisa Forrest, Regina Derieva, Sarah Dowling, Phong Bui, Christopher Sorrentino, Lee Ann Brown, Laura Goldstein, David Jones, Fritz Ward, Alexandra Tolstoy, Chris Abani, Jennifer Gravely, Alicia Rabins, Chris Funkhouser, shishir gupta, Clark Coolidge, Ann E. Michael, John Amen, Joanna Fuhrman, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Chris Stackhouse, Nico Vassilakis, Trevor Maddock, Lucian Blaga, Kirsten Kaschock, Allen Taylor, Robert Hass, Meghan O'Rourke, Marcus McCann, Emmett Williams, Del Ray Cross, Mimi Gross, Jean Valentine, Rachel Dacus, Piu Roy, T. F. Rice, Sarah Fran Wisby, Dana Ward, Chinua Achebe, Jonkil Dies, Michael Fix, Bill Dunlap, Steven Waling, Alan Davies, Jill Stengel, Weldon Hunter, David Hickman, Wilson Lobko, Duane Locke, Surya Parekh, James Franklin, Mark Hoover, Peter Quartermain, Gary McDowell, Michael Fried, Carl Sandburg, C.P. Cavafy, David Alexander Davies, Tama Janowitz, Billy Gomberg, Stephen Potter, Jan Beatty, Anna Fulford, Hagiwara Sakutaro, Nicole Brossard, Garth Graeper, K.S. Ernst, Abbey Baker, Alena Hairston, Mary Kasimor, Esa Makijarvi, Sam Heldman, Brian Strang, Donald McGrath, Kevin Davies, Rochelle Ratner, Blaise Cendrars, Elizabeth Swados, Carolyn Guinzio, Janet Mason, Bernadette Geyer, Tom Raworth, Jay Hopler, Allen Ginsberg, Christine Hamm, Davis Schneiderman, DJ Spooky, E. B. Bortz, Michael Wells, Virginie Poitrasson, Nancy M. Grace, Bob Perlman, Rob Fitterman, John Zuern, Catherine Theis, Patti Smith, Pat Nolan, Martin Marriott, Matina L. Stamatakis, Alixandra Bamford, Loretta Clodfelter, Emma Bolden, Laura Wetherington, Ralph Steadman, Osip Mandelstam, Derek Beaulieu, Corrine Fitzpatrick, W.S. Merwin, Joseph Ross, John Latta, Brandi Homan, Jackie Sheeler, Oscar Bermeo, Todd Swift, Gabe Gudding, Robert Creeley, Beth Lifson, Jerry Gordon, Kristen Yawitz, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Yuri Hospodar, Jake Adam York, Edwin Denby, Andrei Codrescu, Ralph-Michael Chiaia, Lee Herrick, Skip, Annie Dillard, Amber Reed, Eleni Sikelianos, Bramhall, Gina Myers, Kate Simon, Matthew Muldar, A.D. Thomas, Countee Cullen, Brenda Connor-Bey, Shanxing Wang, Sara Jaffe, Michael Nicholoff, Simon Ortiz, Laura Heidy, Valerie Loveland, Lori Emerson, Edward Field, Richard Barrett, Patricia Tomaszek, Brian Salchert, F. James Hartnell, Lorine Niedecker, Cherilyn Ferroggiaro, Farid Matuk, Robert Frost, James Hoch, Nadia Nurhussein, Ahmed Thomas, Grant Miller, Anna L. Conti, Yuko Otomo, Aharon Shabtai, Albert Goldbarth, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Dan Richert, Rachel Tzvia Back, Jerrold Shiroma, Ross Priddle, Dan Coffey, Scott Glassman, Jessica Crispin, Oren Slor, Murat Nemet-Nejat, Juliet Wilson, Charles Jensen, Eckhard Gerdes, Sarah Menefee, Dan Visel, Katie Degentesh, Brian Foley, Ravi Shankar, St. Johnnie Walker, Seth Abramson, Language Hat, Jean Vengua, Mytili Jagannathan, Andrew Phillip Tipton, Jennifer Firestone, Keiji Minato, William Fuller, David Giannini, Cherryl Floyd-Miller, Nick-e Melville, Adam Fieled, Rod McKuen, Niels Hav, Eli Goldblatt, Michelle Bitting, Here Comes Everybody, Owen Smith, Bill Wunder, Paul Hunter, Gregory Vincent St Thomasino, Marjorie Perloff, Rigoberto Gonzalez, Christy Church, Basho, Ryan Downey, R.J. Anderson, Vic Monchego, Paul Gacioch, Robert Bly, David Berridge, Sam Pink, Joshua Edwards, Terry Teachout, Andre Breton & Philippe Soupault, Norman Finkelstein, Else Lasker-Schuler, Louis Aragon, Rachel Phillips, Christine Surka, Joe Fletcher, John Eberhart, Michele Belluomini, Yusef Komunyakaa, Sean Bonney, William Neil Scott, Cecilia Corrigan, Saleh Badrah, Noah Eli Gordon, Rita Dove, Carol Stetser, Marjorie Welish, Zachary C. Bush, r. a. washington, Christian Bok, Eireene Nealand, Benjamin Peret, Niall Lucy, Brandon Downing, Geoff Bouvier, Natalie Lyalin, Joshua Clover, Irving Weiss, Marco Alexandre Oliveira, Georges Perec, Patrick Dillon, Nathan Ladd, Marina Tsvetayeva, Chris Kerr, Daneen Wardrop, Ron Suskind, Philip Messinger, Denise Siegel, Justin Katko, Taylor Graham, Alexis Rotella, Scoplaw, Samuel Amadon, Michelle Detorie, Dr. Niama L. Williams, Jim Cory, Sarah Sarai, Theodore Worozbyt, David Graham, Judith Skillman, Ben Doyle, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Jim Andrews, Rita Degli Esposti, Cecco Angiolieri, G.M. Palmer, Heidi Lynn Staples, Jay Robinson, Mendi Obadike, Felicia Shenker, Mary di Michele, Logan Esdale, Evelyn Hampton, Mary Kasimor, Ben Friedlander, Chris Stroffolino, Ellen Cardona, Christa Forster, Sean Serrell, Paul Dutton, Bernard Henrie, Sven Laasko, Stephen Morrissey, Bruce Covey, Harvey Goldner, Janwillem Vandewetering, John Ashbery, Faye Driscoll, Michael Sikkema, Davide Baptiste Chirot, Erik Ehn, Octavio Paz, Ben Hamper, Sumaila Isah Umaisha, Dan Machlin, Gary Parrish, Kevin Killian, Chinwe Azubuike, Liz Murray, Malcolm Davidson, Aryanil Mukhopadhyay, Natalie Bennett, Nick Bacon, Soledad De Costa, Harvey Shapiro, Jon-Patrick Fadely, Cooper, Philip Trussell, Rona Fernandez, Jennifer Hill-Kaucher, Richard O'Russa, Paul Eluard, Asa Boxer, J.R. Foley, Guillaume Apollinaire, Maxine Chernoff, Angela Papala, Chris Mann, Robert Grenier, Stephen Baraban, William Garvin,, John Aragon-Chavez, Langston Hughes, Chella Courington, Amanda Auchter, David Micah Greenberg, Jane, David Shapiro, Jay Cola, Maria Fama, Laurie Duggan, John Shields, Joanne Kyger, Tristan Tzaras, Patricia Peterson, Roger Snell, Elisa Gabbert, Travis Nichols, Bruce Andrews, Christopher Marlowe, Melanie Miller, Amy Gerstler, Bill Griffiths, Al Filreis, Josh Hanson, Edward Pettit, Avery Burns,Megan Breiseth, Kevin Opstedal, Amber Nelson, Mike O'Connor, Wayne Koestenbaum, Allan Revich, Will Esposito, Thomas McEvilley, Steve Bradbury, Bernadine Mellis, Jane Joritz-Nakagawa, Charles Alexander, Sharon (Wren) Rogers, Ida Acton, George Bowering, Rachel DuPlessis, Patrick Durgin, Cathi Murphy, Stephen Crane, Hildegard of Bingen, Rene Daumal, Roberta Beary, Lina Vitkauskas, Nick Bredie, Honor Moore, Clay Banes, Catriona Strang, Lars Haugen, Catherine Walsh, Lauren Ireland, James Schuyler, Elias Lonnrot, T.S. Eliot, Uda Kiyoko, David Lawton, Vitezslav Nezval, Leslie Scalapino, Sparrow, Laura Sims, Christine Stewart, Marci Nelligan, Richard Owens, Steve Dolph, Joel Chace, Drew Milne, Jules Feiffer, Susan M. Schultz, Fernando Pessoa, Roger Mitchell, Carrie Hunter, Tom Clark, Don Share, Terese Svoboda, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Lynn Xu, Mike Snider, Shafer Hall, Paul Auster, Hermann Ungar, Raymond Wachter, Arielle Guy, Joe Brainard, Steve Klepetar, Scott David Herman, Shann Palmer, Marton Koppany, Todd Carlstrom and The Clamour, William Corbett, Christopher Harter, Nick Montfort, Paul Foster Johnson, William Freind, Gary Sauer-Thompson, Scott Keeney, Barbara Claire Freeman, Steven Berlin Johnson, Cecilia Borromeo, Sally Greenhouse, Michael Crake, G. Ribemont-Dessaignes, Jessi Lee, John Peck, Beatrix Potter, Matthew Burkett, Michael Leong, H.D., Lisanne Thompson, Jane Nakagawa, Sandra Simonds, Gillian McCain, Stephen Kirbach, Stephen Vincent, J.P. Donleavy, Anna Kavan, Birdie Jaworski, Chall Gray, Robyn Art, Thomas Fink, David Meltzer, Adolf Wolfli, Helen Bridwell, Elizabeth Switaj, Geoffrey Gatza, Jim Warner, John Keats, Logan Ryan Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, William Michaelian, Jay Snodgrass, George Held, Brooks Johnson, Julie Dill, St. Teresa of Avila, Alan Sondheim, Robert Kelly, Ted Burke, Brandon Barr, Donna Strickland, Diane di Prima, Alan Michael Parker, Jefferson Toal, Geoff Hlibchuk, Kit Robinson, Christian Nagler, William Blake, J.P. Craig, Berenice Dunford, Michael Harris, JF Quackenbush, Helen Losse, Matt Mullins, Caterina Fake, Matthew Siegel, Julie Patton, Siel, Kristine Leja, Aryanil Mukherjee, Nathaniel Siegel, Kevin Connolly, Philip Levine, Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Michael Peters, Roger Singer, Carol Jenkins, Gabriela Erandi Rico, Craig Perez, AE Reiff, Gelett Burgess, Thurston Moore, Sam Byfield, Angela Vogel, Bruce Weber, Steve Tills, Mary Askin-Jencsik, Endre Farkas, Tony Trigilio, Angela Carr, Slater Brown, Toby Olson, K.Silem Mohammad, Elizabeth Bishop, Andrea Zemel, Sean Hill, Ilya Bernstein, Neil Gaiman, Paul Valery, Jaap Blonk, Kim Addonizio, David Thornbrugh, Bern Porter, Megan Milks, Cedar Sigo, Ted Kooser, Miia Toivio, Alena Hairston/elen gebreab, Unica Zuern, Peter Cook, Mike Hauser, Julia Bloch, Charles Stross, Shin Yu Pai, Mikey Golightly, Zhang Er, Paula Grenside, Richard Deming, Linda Russo, Nadia Halim, Geoffrey Hendricks, Kathy Lou Schultz, Stephen Cope, David Hernandez, Cole Swensen, Bill Walsh, Pirooz M. Kalayeh, Mara Vahratian, Ange Mlinko, Afroza Soma, Rupert Mallin, The Leader, Etel Adnan, Jennifer Cooke, Mark Granier, Lamont Steptoe, Amina Cain, Geof Huth, Patrick Frank, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Megan Volpert, Charlotte Runcie, Susan Howe, Gene Justice, Matthew Lafferty, Patrick Kurp, Barbara Jane Reyes, Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Amy L. Sargent, Nathalie Stephens, Andrew Johnston, Prabhakar Vasan, Nathaniel Mackey, Abhijit Mitra, Ben Mazer, Thomas Fucaloro, Dr. Jacob Edmond, Yu Jian, Ted Pearson, Linh Dinh, Stephen Nelson, Kenneth Patchen, Robert von Hallberg, Andrew Hughes, Chris Gullo, Shanna Compton, May Pang, Cristiana Baik, Allen Mozek, Fielding Dawson, Stephen Rosenthal, Stefan Brecht, Donald Justice, Stan Apps, Shelley Powers, Stephen Vincent Benet, Maya Angelou, Wade Fletcher, Juliana Leslie, Anny Ballardini, John Yau, Bob Kerr, Michael Helsem, Charles Belbin, Jane Jortiz-Nakagawa, John Tyson/Kelly Conway, Teresa K. Miller, Emily XYZ, Jeff Harrison, John P. McNamee, Michelle Taransky, Gertrude Stein, Jen Welch, Doug Hofstadter, Edgar Lee Masters, Andrey Bely, sTEVEN p. rOGGENBUCK, Ed Dorn, Gary Sullivan, Greg Perry, Susan Allspaw Pomeroy, Jim Kober, Bobby Byrd, John Sullivan, Charles Johnson, John Byrum, Charles Simic, Baron Wormser, Scott Pierce, Ada Limon, Kris Waldherr, Tom O‚ÄôConnor, Christina Mengert, Danielle Pafunda, Gary Lutz, David Christensen, Anyssa Kim, Joshua Trott, Zachary Schomburg, Christopher Salerno, Christophe Casamassima, Emily Critchley, Dorothea Lasky, Chris Glomski, Matt Shears, Damian Weber, Justin Marks, Brooke Kaye, Frank Etienne, Judith Jordan, Sam Dillon, Bill Knott, Mara Leigh, Anselem Berrigan, Jeff Bacon, Clifford Odets, JeffreyJoe Nelson, Della Watson, Christiana Langenberg, Robert Peake, cris cheek, Morris Cox, Richard Kostelanetz, Wanda Phipps, Hugo Ball, Kristin Prevallet, Norman Weinstein, Lacey Hunter, Gerald Hausman, Rachel Oliver, Ray McNiece, Bill Dorn, Catullus, Monique Trottier, Joshua Ware, e.e. cummings, Garrett Hongo, Bill Lavender, John Cleary, Sharon Harris, Divya Victor, Jack Spicer, Kate Armstrong, Karl Young, Chad Sweeney, David Solway, Wanda O'Connor, Mahmoud Darwish, Joanne Tracy, Sheila, Amanda Cook, Hugh Nissensen, Sean M. Dalpiaz, Edna St. Vincent, Caroline Bergvall, Lawrence Giffin, Rob Halpern, Dana Gioia, Daniel Bradley, David Kaufmann, Robert Lowell, kari edwards, Rosanna Lee, Allen Fisher, Stacy Szymaszek, Matt Theado, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Billy Mills, Andy Gricevich, The Philly Sound, Ruel S. De Vera, Trudi West, Daniel C. Remein, Hillary Gravendyk, Mary Burger, Insani Kamil, Guillermo Parra, Ryan Daley, Jessica Schneider, Carol Novack : Playpoem MP3, Jesse Ferguson, Mark Bernstein, KB Jones, Laura Marks, Kent Freeman, Sara Blakeman, Rodrigo Toscano, Sabyasachi Nag, Budd Parr, Peggy Willis Lyles, Keston Sutherland, Simon DeDeo, Marcus Slease, Emily Crocker, Donald Illich, John Sakkis, Andrew Sage, Joseph Harrington, Adrienne Rich, Tad Richards, Mick Rock, Sabina Murray, Michael Friedman, J.V. Foix, Michael McClintock, Dennis Nurkse, Andrew Shields, Susan Bee, Jacques Gaffarel, Paul Rigolle, William Keckler, Evan J. Peterson, Geoffrey Demarquet, Ariana Reines, Richard Wilbur, Kim Chinquee, Jerome Rothenberg, Laura Carter, Mark Strand, Nicholas Manning, Jukka-Pekka Kervinen, Donna Stonecipher, Girish Shambu, Gerald Schwartz, Catherine Taylor, Rachel Levitsky, Michelle Tupko, Chris Corrigan, Jim McKay, Joel Craig, Jacqueline Risset, Marcus Civin, Melvin Tolson, Lance Anderson, Sampson Starkweather, Peter Carey, Chris Murray, Dorianne Laux, Fiona Templeton, Kimberly Lyons, Claudia Carlson, Aaron Belz, Bill Zavatsky, Adam Strauss, Curtis Gale Weeks, Jeremiah Bowen, Bill Piety, Jane Hirshfield, mark s kuhar, Brendan Kreitler, Kim Bernstein, Frances Kruk, Margaret Ronda, Chris Piuma, Gina Franco, Anne Boyer, Claire McMahon, Jason Zuzga, Sharon Lynn Osmond, Pirooz Kalayeh, Robert Calero, Laura Jaramillo, Bryan Newbury, Steve Schroeder, St. Catherine of Siena, Anna Akhmatova, Edith Sitwell, Eduardo C. Corral, Megan Burns, Dan Hoy, Walt Whitman, Nic Sebastian, Elizabeth Treadwell, John Phillips, Michael Haeflinger, Karen, C Mehrl Bennett, Michael Hays Sanchez, Henry Edwards, Jeremy James Thompson, Jeffrey Ethan, Lisa Lorenz, Sukhdev Sandhu, Norma Cole, Courtney Rydel, Nina Svenne, Robert Zaller, Kirby Olson, Frank Wilson, Changming Yuan, Justin Audia, Janet Holmes, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jon Christensen, C.J. Martin, Matt Rasmussen, Norman Fischer, Bill Day, Mervyn Peake, Yvonne Jacquette, Nathan Logan, Urdu Poetry, Tony Towle, Leslie Kaplan, Philip Nikolayev, Sarah Gridley, Naomi Shihab Nye, Stephen Paul Miller, Mark Van Doren, Bonnie Jean Michalski, T.R. Wang, Eric Rosenfield, Mark Woods, R. Nemo Hill, Cynthia Lawson, Harry Rutherford, Deborah Patillo, Mark Bibbins, Novica Tadic, Hank O'Neal, Denise Low, Caroline Whitbeck, Hugh Behm-Steinberg, Serena Jost, Elizabeth Marie Young, Reg E. Gaines, Cole Swenson, Kevin Kilroy, Kaia Sand, Harryette Mullen, Charles Deemer, Alan Tucker, Eileen Myles, Meg Foulkes, Martha Ronk, Gil Fagian, Nick Piombino, Betsy Fagin, Anne Germanacos, Alex Cumberbatch, Kenneth Goldsmith, Debby Florence, Bin Ramke, Kariann Burleson, Amy Berkowitz, Liz Waldner, T.A. Noonan, Steven Karl, Francis Ponge, Angela Genusa, F.A. Nettelbeck, Becca Klaver, Andrew Koszewski, Chelsea Hotel, J.P. Rangaswami, Guile Canencia, Carol Snow, Alysha Wood, Jen Hofer, Greg Mulcahy, Lynne Dreyer, Andrew Feindt, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Susanna Kittredge, Jason Fraley, Nicholas Messenger, Raymond Filip, Mitch Highfill, Ian Tyson, Lisa Fishman, Gloria Frym, St. John Perse, Robin Purves, Peter Davis, Alison Knowles, Russell Edson, Collin Kelley, Nashi, Jim Dine, Marie Ponsot, Joseph Ceravolo, Jorie Graham, Barbara Guest, Onishi Yasuyo, Matthew Henriksen, Kent Johnson, Eric Bogosian, Craig Shaffer, Hoa Nguyen, Zolt√°n Hom√°lyos, Marcella Durand, Afaa Michael Weaver, CAConrad, Eddie Watkins, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Beth Joselow, David A. Kirschenbaum, Brandon Shimoda, Richard Taylor, H.T. Harrison, Wolfi Landstreicher, Robert Wilson, Andrew Topel, Juliana Spahr, John Levy, Stuart Ross, William Jay Smith, Jane Holland, Martin Edmond, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Nikolai Gumilov, Billy Jno Hope, David Patton, Brian VanRemmen, Didi Menendez, Nico Alvarado-Greenwood, Danielle Pafunda, Pam Brown, Alexander Pope, Loss Pequeno Glazier, Jordan Scott, Will Edmiston, Robert Allen, Carly Sachs, Rick Burkhardt, Tisa Bryant, Alison Shaffer, Peter Norman, Roger Dean, Justin Evans, Jan Manzwotz, Don Wentworth, Tim Carmody, Guenter Grass, Ricardo Bracho, Erica Hunt, Robert Service, Katherine Hastings, James Finnegan, Elaine Equi, Clancy Ratliff, Mark Tardi, ee miller, Kara Hearn, Dax Bayard-Murray, Chris Kraus, Marita Dachsel, Redell Olsen, MaryAnn McCarra-Fitzpatrick, Tom Leonard, Wendy Wisner, Jean Roelke, Laura Sells, Donna Kuhn, Wen Yiduo, Erika Mikkalo, Tristan Tzara, Evie Shockley, Sarah Louise Parry, John Dos Passos, Doc Reese, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Montgomery, Lisa Samuels, Nin Andrews, Susan Gevirtz, Karen Mac Cormack, Roger Pao, Wang Ping, Samuel R. Delany, Andy Clausen, Barry Schawbsky, Mary Oliver, Deborah Meadows, Eve Rifkah, Reed Altemus, Alexei Remizov, Christopher Warrington, Bennett/Baron, Bill White, Franco Beltrametti, Joseph Massey, Stephen Mitchelmore, Jason Gray, Rod Smith, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Richard Bank, Lorenzo Thomas, Matt†Hart, Eric Weiskott, Benito Vergara, J.D. Mitchell-Lumsden, Gerard Sarnat, January O'Neill, Miles Budimir, Christopher Kelen, Julie Carter, Tim Peterson, Rusty Morrison, Jay Rosevear, Jeremy Bushnell, Tomas S. Butkus, Katoh Ikuya, Lin Kelsey, Joan Larkin, Wystan Curnow, Alessandro Porco, Brian Seabolt, Summi Kaipa, Elizabeth Zechel, Thomas Lowe Taylor, Derek Walcott, Carla Milo, Nelly Sachs, Pattie Cowell, Mark Young, Sam Witt, Jed Rasula, Elizabeth Willis, Pamela Lawton, Sandra Seekins, Dave Lovely, Christopher Sindt, Jennifer Rogers, Ben Lerner, Richard Johnny John, Denton Welch, Andre Breton, Peli Grietzer, Erik Sapin, Jonathan Doherty, Michaela Cooper, Cathy Park Hong, Jake Berry, Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino, Julie Choffel, Alan de Niro, Katie Cappello, F.J. Bergmann, Robert Doto, Zackary Sholem Berger, Nina Alvarez, Katie Haegele, Elizabeth Block, Theo van Doesburg, Jon Frankel, Andrew Lundwall, Lily Brown, Ken Belford, Lisa Robertson, Chris Pusateri, Patrick Chapman, David Daniels, Maurice Blanchot, Georg Trakl, Frank Simone, Tony Barnstone, Thomas A. Clark, John Tranter, Dale Smith, James Tate, Joel Lewis, James Schiller, Dylan Kinnett, Richard Gilbert, George Economou, Tony Trehy, Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, Ophelia Mourne, Harlan Erskine, Melissa Benham, Kahlil Gibran, Jen Tynes, Hannah Craig, A.M. Correa, Katie Acheson, Nazim Hikmet, Brian Lucas, Louis Cabri, Maggie Dubris, Richard Bank, Alan Loney, Stephanie Countiss Emens, Erin Pringle, Anthony Metivier, Marie Buck, Zachary Chartkoff, Jan Oskar Hansen, Michael Jarrett, James Cook, Philip Metres, Jon Paul Fiorentino, Vachel Lindsay, Michael Scharf, o. hunt, Ann M. Fine, Alfred Jarry, John Wood, Robert Desnos, Michael Gause, Danielle Dutton, Jonathan Jones, Eric Mottram, Mary Jo Bang, John Deming, D. Antwan Stewart, Hugh MacDiarmid, Rob, Eleanor Wilner, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Scott Hartwich, Four Horsemen, Gregory Betts, Bill Berkson, Laurel Ransom, George Schneeman, Kristy Odelius, Lisa Cohen, Sina Queyras, Eric Baus, Angela Vasquez-Giroux, David Miller, MaryAnn McCarra Fitzpatrick, D.A. Powell, Julia Story, Andrea Lawlor, Jane Falk, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, Ellen Baxt, Gisele Prassinos, Ruth Taylor, Laura Harper, artie gold, Jeni Olin, Sergei Gandlevsky, Lila Zemborain, Tony Tost, Juan Jose Flores, Brian Mihok, Tan Lin, Sarojini Sahoo, Paul Siegell, Nicole Mauro, Caroline Conway, Merrill Gillfillan, Geoffrey, Philip Rowland, Jonathan Evison, Ira Joel Haber, Melissa Pakalinsky, Susan Kaiser Greenland, Daniel Bailey, Jenny Boully, Djuna Barnes, David Wolach, Nick Twemlow, Rodney Koeneke, Cheryl Snell, Jennifer K. Dick, Reggie Harris, Peter Ganickz, Sheila Murphy, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Greg Rappleye, Alasdair Gray, Len Shneyder, Zack Linmark, John Seed, Paul Ford, Rachel Mallino, Jan Bindas-Tenney, Tim Botta, The Pines, Ecce Mulier, Kenneth Goldsmith, Daniel Pritchard, R. Zamora Linmark, Karen Wagner, Camille Roy, Steven Gould Axelrod, Vassilis Zambaras, James Bow, Steve Roberts, Ron Padgett, Jason Labbe, Donora Hillard, Larry Kearney, Kristen Orser, Ed Ruscha, Louise Waller, Sherri Wood, Miriam Jones, Steven Moore, Robert Hershon, Patry Francis, Dave Cook, Sara Veglahn, Alfred Leslie, Henri Michaux, C.K. Williams, Doc Searls, Lars Amund Vaage, Rae Armantrout, Rodrigo Flores, Allen Bramhall, Rigoberto Gonzales and Katha Pollitt, Anatol Stern, Sina Fazelpour, Sarith Peou, Harold Jaffe, L.L. De Mars, Peggy Kelley, Sara Marcus, David Applegate, Lisa Janssen, Jim Moore, Edmond Jabes, Ruth, Wei Ying-Wu, India Radfar, Matthew Cooperman, David Dowker, Laird Hunt, Mina Loy, Erin Bertram, Will Alexander, J. F. Quackenbush, John Gallaher, Robert Ashley, Benjamin Paloff, Andrew Neuendorf, Kusano Shimpei, Dion Farquhar, Lisa, Emily Gordon, Karen Plata, Dinah Roma, Doug Lang, Claire Becker, Caryl Pagel, Walter Mosley, Stephanie Stickland, Frank Sherlock, Justin Dodd, Katina Papson, Daniel Zimmerman, Keith Waldrop, Douglas Manson, Charles Olson, Bill Peschel, Franklin Bruno, Nathan Hauke, Paul Hoover, William Moor, C. Harris Stevens, Walter Abish, Amy Lemmon, Claude Royet-Journoud, John Keene, Aaron Armstrong Skomra, Jordan Sanderson, Reg Johanson, Peter Yovu, Daniel Pendergrass, John Beer, Justin Lacour, Jennifer Moxley, Nathan Lang, Hazel Smith, Iamnasra Oman, pr primeau, Sheryl Luna, Jonathan Ball, Terry Southern, Christian Peet, Pierre Joris, Oana Avasilichioaei, Arunta, Deanna Ferguson, Tom Phillips, Susan Schultz, Jason Camlot, David Kirschenbaum, Gail Mazur, Jack Hughes, Zack Finch, J.H.Prynne, Rebecca Loudon, Scott Inguito, Esmail Yazdanpour, Naftali Bacharach, Jennifer Osborne, Sylvia Plath, Richard Lopez, Sandy Baldwin, Kirsten Lavers, Andrew Christ, Ann Lauterbach, Shelly Taylor, Nicole Peyrafitte, Jessica Savitz, Sam Golden Rule Jones, K. Silem Mohammad, Lionel Kearns, Lili Bita, Aime Cesaire, R W Sturgess, James Moran, Mike Topp, Dan Featherston, Chris Daniels, Gregory Botts, Nicole Oquendo, Thomas Devaney, Randall, Keith Shein, William Harris, Rik Roots, Patricia Carragon and Andy Comess, Alejandro Tarrab, Matthew Shindell, Eric Gamalinda, Amy Bernier, Spencer Selby, Simone Muench, Piombino, Michelle Buchanan, David Lehman, Jonathan agee, Tim Yu, Cesar Vallejo, Isidore Ducasse, Amanda Earl, Romina Freschi, Alan Halsey, Daniel f. Bradley, Charles Rossiter, Noelle Kocot, Jayne Pupek, Aldous Huxley, Deborah Fries, Alani Apio, Jessica Smith, Christopher Barnes, Rick Snyder, Sarah Lang, Emily Dickinson, Cecilia Ann, bpNichol, Susanna Fry, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Charles Borkhuis, Herman Beavers, Stephanie Skura, Jessica Bennett, Steve Carey, Madeline Gins, Thom Donovan, Chuck Perrin, Luci Tapahonso, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Ira Cohen, Marko J. Niemi, Ray Davis, Nancy Gandhi, Dee Rimbaud, Mary O'Malley, Evie Ivie, Pamela Mack, Lawrence Lessig, Allyssa Wolf, and Snezana Zabic.
I kid you not. Nor is this roster, at 3,164 names as complete a collection of mostly post-avant poets I have ever seen, the quirkiest thing about Issue 1.
No, the quirkiest thing about Issue 1 is going to be that, if it includes your name – and, hey, it probably does – you have no memory of having written that text, nor of submitting it to Issue 1. Or, as Ed Baker put it so elegantly in the comments stream to For Godot,
I DIDN’T FUCKING WRITE THIS GARBAGE!
As I certainly did not write the text associated with my name on page 1849. And I doubt seriously that my nephew Dan wrote the one-line poem associated with his name in here either – tho it’s a much better piece than “mine” and I can almost envision him entertaining the German puns lurking there in the word-roots. I did not know that he wrote poetry, frankly. Nor does, to the best of my knowledge, somebody like Larry Lessig. Nor the late Henry Darger. Further, I doubt that Walt Whitman, Aimé Césaire, Laura Riding, Ezra Pound, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jack Kerouac or any of the other dead poets included here have any new work to share. I don’t think you wrote your work either.
Issue 1 is what I would call an act of anarcho-flarf vandalism. The second pages lists the compilers as Stephen McLaughlin & Jim Carpenter, and a search of domain ownership for the web host arsonism.org at Whois.com turns up the following:
Registrant Name: Stephen McLaughlin
Registrant Street1:
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City: Delanco
Registrant State/Province: New Jersey
Registrant Postal Code:08075
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone:+1.8567641574
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email: fakesalt@comcast.net
If you are unamused, you might want to tell Steve this directly. If you’re amused, I suspect that he’d like to hear that as well.
I might note that the last time I felt ripped off by an on-line stunt, I sued – as a lead plaintiff in a class-action case brought by the National Writers Union. And while I can’t discuss the suit, as a condition of the subsequent settlement, I will note that we could have gotten a pretty good major league middle infielder for the final amount. Play with other people’s reps at your own risk.
Labels: anthologies, hoax
It was lovely to be included with you in a publication, and nice not to have to work for it at all.
Damn kids and their MTV!
I DIDN’T FUCKING WRITE THIS GARBAGE!
I hope I never get to the point in my poetic "career" that I take myself so seriously as to freak out and not laugh about something like this. It is neither insulting nor offensive, so where's the complaint?
Do you know these people? What genus of idiot are they?
best
Chris Mansell
"Vladimir has left a new comment on the post "Issue 1 Release Announcement":
I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so very sorry for what I've done. I am a total asshole. That's all that can be concluded from this. Really, I sat down last night and thought about it, and I've just concluded that I'm a terrible sad person starving for attention.
I promise everyone that the entire anthology will be deleted from the site tomorrow. Again, I'm just an asshole, that's the only possible explanation.
Post a comment.
Unsubscribe to comments on this post"
so much of our culture depends upon pimping/pimps!
and then they are "born-again" and all is forgiven?
I hope at least they had a computer program to do it.
Whom would I be plaigiarizing if I used a line from mine somewhere else?
I suppose if I were a painter I could take myself seriously without being ridiculed?
How nice it must be to be above all that. As a matter of principle.
The next time some dumb-ass "editor"
feels smart enough to include some of my poetry in an anthology, perhaps he should make sure he can tell his ass from mine--to wit, I never wrote that asinine piece of feces on p. 3517.
Maybe it's just because you, Ron, actually make a little money off your work that you care so intensely about this. The financial tough talk at the end of your post would seem to support this notion. You seemed to have a similar reaction to Google scanning books a while back. You are a man with influence and power, Ron, and these are COLLEGE STUDENTS, you are threatening COLLEGE STUDENTS. Is it really warranted?
For myself, always condemned to (revel in) triviality and utter monetary profitlessness, this is merely... amusing.
At heart, fear of loss of name seems to me to be connected to a fear of Thanatos, of having one's "singular identity" merge into a great pool of indeterminacy. This will certainly happen to all of us, to our physical bodies firstly, and secondly to all of our "literary reputations" when human history finally (and maybe, blessedly) ends.
The massive scale of the thing neutralizes any "reputation- destroying" potential that a more targeted hoax might have. I might be peeved, honestly, if someone had written an entire book and passed it off as mine (although... wait... someone did that... and I liked it! I even wrote the preface to it!). We're all thrown into identity soup here, though, and that changes the game.
It would behoove us all, therefore, to untwist our knickers. It's not... NOT... a big deal. It is an art project.
I almost liked the poem attributed to my name except it almost made sense.
I almost laughed except there are much funnier people in the world: doug stanhope, mike "birbigs", and my friend nel.
This is playfulness in the extreme. And it's just a spot of silly fun, done for a giggle. And it is a publication in which–(as I mentioned when I first read it in Amy King's blog)–I am sorely sad to not be included.
No need for furrowed brows. And as for class action suits – are poets really worried that someone is going to make a fortune from their names or words? Oh were we to live in a world where they could.
people are taking (some of) my art and poems
and posting on their blogs
w out my permission! You men-a-tell me I can sue?
and supplement my $397 a month
SS check/income?
which lawyer do I call and
do they have an 800 number...?
The humor of it is in the length of it. Without the length, it would have no power.
The one thing that I did find funny is the satirization of simile. I've never seen so many "likes" in one place. That's nicely done.
I only wish I had the amount of free time these guys have.
In any case, congrats on the pies at ten paces.
rauanklassnik.blogspot.com)
--------------------------------
The first question about something this monstrous is whether it's worthy of our attention. If the answer to the first question is "yes" then the second question is "why?"
To the first question the answer for me and many others (judging from the comment stream at forgodot.com and Ron Silliman's post and the comment-threads associated with his blog) is clearly yes.
Then why?
1) I think it's funny. Or "amusing" as the Big-Man (Silliman) puts it.
2) I also admire the work that went into it. Its scope. Its audacity. Its bad attitude.
But I can see that others would be outraged. And by "others" I mean people who have no sense of humor. People for whom everything is sacred. (I'm talking here of Agelastes. "Agelaste", Kundera explains in The Torn Curtain, is a term Rabelais "coined from the Greek to describe people who are incapable of laughter...It is because of them, he said, that he came closer to never writing another word...")
But if in this instance you are outraged wouldn't it be best to remain quiet rather than fueling the fire of attention.
But where, really (I ask myself) is Ron Silliman, the Big-Man, on this? Maybe it's because i'm retarded and/or the fact that I don't know the Big-Man well (or at all, in fact) but I can't quite get his tone. He doesn't seem to really play his hand here. Or does he?
If he was really upset you think he'd take a big knife to the party. And he does seem to have a respect and admiration for the enterprise. (or am i just projecting?)
Is his posting just part of his duty as the Big-Man?
Again (I scratch my head): he doesn't bring a knife to the party. Or does he?
He does bring up the possibility (for others) of legal action. But is this just a friendly warning to the creators of "Issue"? Or is he really trying to prompt legal action. The concluding sentence of Silliman's post ("Play with other people’s reps at your own risk") is very hard to take seriously. I can't decide if Silliman was smiling as he typed those words in, or whether he is an Agelaste.
The pathetic thing is that some people might sue. Pathetic actually that people would be outraged. I mean, c'mon--what reputations are actually being messed with?? ha ha ha.
If you think "Issue" is funny, then laugh. If you're impressed with its scope, creativity, audacity-- then admire it. Talk about it. Shout about it.
If, dear Agelastes, you are indeed outraged, then the smart thing to do would be to shut the hell up. Crying, whining and scolding will only make you look like idiots an add fuel to the fire.
What also puzzles me is that people seem to be suggesting that "their" poem in the anthology bears some sort of relationship to their own work (to the extent that some have suggested they are being "imitated"). I did a little experiment where I googled the name of a poet from the list I am unfamiliar with, tracked down a poem by them, cut and pasted it into a document, did a few keystrokes to simulate feeding the text into a mash-up program. Re-cut and pasted the text into another document, to simulate the placing of the text into the "mother" document we see here (assuming that the order has been somehow instantly pre-determined); the whole process took about 4 minutes. Assuming that the texts average to about a page a poet, 4 time 3,785 is 15,140 minutes. That's 252 hours. Which would take a person working 12 hours a day nonstop 22 days to finish this task alone. There are 3 names attributed to the project, so that's about a week a piece. A considerable amount of time (not to mention carpal-tunnel syndrome inducing repetitive action) for a person to spend on a prank. Ergo, I can only assume that the document itself was produced artificially using software of some kind. Something that can be done relatively quickly with a fast enough computer. Ergo, Occam's Razor dictates that THESE TEXTS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WHATSOEVER WITH THEIR ATTRIBUTED AUTHORS.
So where did the stuff come from? Each one is relatively parseable-and displays a consistent level of diction. I don't think that using random texts off the web or, say, the dictionary could produce this, no? I'm not familiar with the kinds of programs, etc. used to generate random "poetry" or the like, so I could be wrong. But it would seem to indicate that there's some kind of source text.
To firmly discount the idea that the text attributed to me is culled from my own work, I looked at "my" piece and selected the most unique word in it--"plashless." I don't recall ever using this word in a poem, though there are more than a few poems out there that I have only a tenuous memory, if any at all, of writing. I google "plashless" plus "Lamoureux" and get nothing. What I DO get, as the second hit is a lesson plan for Emily Dickinson's "A Bird Came Down the Walk." Aha! I would say Occam's Razor again dictates that the source text for these poems is some kind of large anthology or perhaps Project Gutenberg's poetry section or some such, which I would imagine would probably yield consistent enough diction to produce relatively "believable" texts such as what we see here.
Anyway, it was a fun bit of hermeneutics and I salute the authors for their production of this enigma--most notable as an exercise in AI automatic writing. Moreso than an instance of Dada-esque provocation, of which it is basically garden variety.
Charming, though, that people will still pull that finger and get indignant about the fart.
The real philosophical question is, though, will "Death and hoar" be read by a greater or lesser number of people than would read "my" other works. I would say less, because I don't think the text of the anthology is Google-able, so someone searching for my work in the text would need to download it and search for my name amidst the thousands of others in the anthology. A level of interest that I doubt anyone but an editor interested in a complete collected poems or a graduate student would be prepared to take. Something that at this point in my writing life would not happen, and is probably not likely to happen, ever.
Ergo I think the "MARK LAMOUREUX" "brand" is safe from dissolution...
And are they scraping the names from Silliman's site?
What pisses me off about this is not that I'm included (THAT makes me jump for joy), but that some of my favorite people were excluded: David Kirby, Barbara Hamby, James Kimbrell, Erin Belieu, you know, basically everyone I ever took a class with at FSU.
Love,
EJP
why get mad about what is so clearly progression in a world full to busting with blogs and online publishing? do people who are upset by this project gain anything other than angst? who else cares about poetry but poets?
and if we all know this is a project clearly sending us up why not take it on and embrace the spirit of play. i'm guessing the project creators were hoping for mixed responses and were looking to take the post down in due course.
now we are all famous and famous together and it was a fraud and then we disappear. yeah, that seems a perfect alignment of everything bogus and rambunctious in poetry today. more please.
I don't mean to be impolite, but a lawsuit by you, Watten, Bernstein, Hejinian, et. al. against this "anthology" would certainly constitute "conceptual" confirmation, if such is still needed, of just how wrapped around the tether-ball pole of the Literary Institution Language Poetry now is.
Kent
Kent
I'm not really Vladimiar Zykov by the way. Or am I? Wink wink wink.
what's in a name?
letters and egos! where's my ego at where's my ego at where's my intellectual property rights
but you know if your stocks are down that lawsuit might look pretty healthy
Having said this, however, I think some folks are taking this far too seriously.
From the way people are reacting, you'd think their names were being falsely attached to skinhead propaganda or something. A lot of these poems aren't half bad if you ask me. Long live Godot!
Leonard Kress
I said that this would "separate the men from the boys," to my boyfriend and he said, "what the hell are you talking about?" Someone put it much more eloquently over at Harriet -- that this would separate poets with a sense of humor from those who don't have one.
What's more interesting about this is how the Internet created a poetry hierarchy outside the university, attempted (and succeeded) in diminishing it -- i.e. Foetry -- and built back up a hierarchy wherein everyone's a little king -- and willing to use every scrap of influence possible to exclude, self-promote, grandstand, gossip, bicker, etc., and now get pissed off when the ultimate in hierarchy-obliterating experiments comes out in one big fat 4,000-page "fuck your hierarchy."
IMHO, these poems are better than 95 percent of the poets on the list. And who am I to say? Why, you all made me a king...
Now I have to go back to sinking beneath my pilgrim.
Jim Maughn
"Uncover" involving a true rip-off, selling without permission. Even if the "Issue #1" editors were making a buck -- which does not appear to be the case -- I evaluate the situation as closer to if not wholly within the Larry Flynt - Jerry Falwell parody even rude and pornographic is protected line cases.
Even so, the whole thing amounts to a single joke, as the particular poems aren't matched AT ALL to the foibles or tendencies of the particular poets. It would appear that a ton of work went has been expended for for little ha-ha-ha.
Either way, I think they scoured the net for various poems, then used these as fodder for some machine-gen output. Then, bored, stuck our names back on it.
If you look at this guy's site, he has all sorts of projects involving degradation of source material and augmentation of one source with another, etcetera.
It's likely that we were all credited because our 'material' was used as fodder, a vocabulary and rule base, to create the whole, or even something a simple as jumbling all the lines into a semi-comprehensible order with a program or two. Eh, the project seems gigantic and unwieldy, but it'll make for good storming material, in a crunch.
I like it, myself.
Where the poetry contained in the fauxthology isn't good, the volume is impressive.
How different is this gesture from Duchamp's Mona Lisa with Mustache and Beard (L.H.O.O.Q.?
My only complaint is that I was not included.
and this is L=I=T=R=A=h+sure?
then they do a Vanity Press (Lulu) production and compare/link themselves to Villa or God Zuk! no wonder so many of these co-ed phd students are so fucked-up and confused!
on where much of the list of poet's
came from . . .
the only place I am called
Suzanna Gig
(really I am Suzanne Nixon)
is on Ron's blogroll
my blog is called
suzannagig-jig
(a play with the
sheila-na-gig of Celtic fame)
when I searched ISsue one
for Suzanne I didn;t find myself
however when I used Suzanna Gig
from ARon;'s blogroll
yup
there I was
so while I cannot account for Ezra POund and Shakespeare
and all the other dead poets
who are not on ROn's list
I do suspect the living ones
where taken from here.
You are absolutely correct. It has more comments than any other note in the history of this blog and will easily receive the most hits in one day as well. Carruth caused the exact opposite effect -- it lowered the readership for a day.
We are suitably chastened and will retire to lick our wounds. How unfeeling can a group be!
Glad to see there are always spare Emos hanging around the poetry crowd. That insures that there will always be more than enough mawkish poetry to go around.
And let's not forget in terms of the attention paid to this here blog: things like TMZ or the Huffington Post or Martha Stewart get more hits in a month or three than the total number Silliman -- or any poetry blog has gotten -- over all the years it's been here.
And hot stories in on-line dailies will routinely get 300 plus comments in the course of day. So 65 or even 200 here is impressive here, but not broadly speaking.
Said but true. We ain't many.
The unleashing of so much ego across virtual space might also be seen as extremely healthy. As a friend of mine puts it, people enrol in a creative writing course because it’s cheaper than therapy.
Budge up & make room for me on the couch.
D.J. Huppatz
p.608
Here's my poem for today. Maybe I should put together an anthology.
The ugly births
Ugly and beautiful
Ugly and beautiful
Uglier than a birth
Uglier than a nascency
Uglier than a nascence
A sort of birth
A kind of birth
A kind of nativity
A kind of nascency
Ugly as a birth and beautiful as a birth
Ugly as a nativity and beautiful as a birth
Ugly as a birth, beautiful as a nascence
Ugly as a birth and beautiful as a nascency
Ugly as a nascency, beautiful as a birth
Why cry over this?
Why threaten to sue?
We all do. I hope.
Then again, Sarah Palin may become the next V.P. of the United States of America, so...
IMO, if any class-action lawsuit is brought I should get more $ b/c my reputation was pure and untarnished before this publication forced me into the spoltlight of the poetry world. I have no other "good" poems to compare this one to. Therefore, my good name as a non-poet who might one day publish an important piece of work is forever tarnished. (/snark/)
1917, Marcel Duchamp - The Richard Mutt Case
2008, Stephen McLaughlin - The For Godot Case
http://lesfigues.blogspot.com/2008/10/appropriation-2-case-studies.html
Egomania is apparently pandemic.
Steve: Puts Ron's name in questionable proximity to a poem not actually related to Ron's name.
Here's hoping Ron's lawyer is of the variety that only charges if he wins . . .
come to think of it, my favourite part about it is not that i can`t tell if the poems are fake or not - they are obviously robopo (robot poetry) - but that i can`t always tell if the performances of outrage are fake or not. there`s the art of this thing - however much that is worth to you as an art idea. if worth little or nothing, why the bellyache?
ahh "nail them" to the church door!
You-go-Vowel Movers!
and add that $150,000 bill to their MFA/Pee Ache D Poetry Stealing degree and their parents will pay the bill!
http://vowelmovers.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/letter-to-the-editors/#comment-44260
this is ridiculous. I don't want to sue these guys - I want to buy them a round of shots and toast them.
Andrew Hughes
Email me and I'll add you as a collaborator: bryancoffelt@gmail.com
Quite an undertaking and I like your idea
even though my tastes lean more toward those times when serendipity whips it out.
really, i would have thought you'd be cooler about something like this... it's like you're saying "Fuck the SOQ! art should be free to explore and be wild and unconvential, as long as it follows the rules (esp. in regard to using the words 'Ron' and 'Silliman')"
again, lighten up!
again, lighten up!
again, lighten up!
(but i suppose i'd have more chance of success if i knocked my head repeatedly against a wall....)
it's an improvement.
seriously, i always wanted to be in an anthology with Joan houlihan.
m.
I find that pretty unlikely. Your uncharacteristic objections to the project, however, probably will.
FIRST of all, let's say some scholar of the future unearthed this thing. Don't you think traces of the controversy and discourse surrounding it would be unearthed, too?
And what if, just what if, the traces were nowhere to be found. If the scholar were responsible, don't you think she would be able to discern that this work was not truly yours?
And what if, just what if, she were not able to discern that. Is your reputation really so tenuous, that it would hinge on this one little piece? I certainly do not think so?
And what if, just what if, uh, one were not so concerned about one's, uh, reputation? That, I suppose, is the key question. I leave it as rhetorical.
I maintain that it is victimless, but invite you to convince me otherwise.
xo
Nada
p.s. 30 years from now? Who knows? Here's Jimi on the subject:
Will I live tomorrow?
Well, I just can't say
Will I live tomorrow?
Well, I just can't say
But I know for sure
I don't live today
No sun comin' through my windows
Feel like I'm livin' at the bottom of a grave
No-ho sun comin' through my windows
Feel like I'm livin' at the bottom of a grave
I wish you'd hurry up and rescue me
So I can be on my miserable way
p.p.s. kiss the joy as it flies, O Ozymandias!
if anything of this whole hilarious fiasco survives it will certainly be the 'hubbub' - see, I'm already learning from Issue One - rather than the poems themselves.
and so what if somebody happens to link the poem to your name and miss the MUCH larger issue of the anthology itself? as Ginsberg told Creeley, 'you don't have to worry so much about writing a 'bad' poem. You can afford to now.'
I'm with Nada on this. To say that it will affect your reputation is to also say that future volumes of the works of Shakespeare and Confucius might include the poems attributed to them in this volume.
I can't think of anything more absurd than people taking seriously an anthology claiming to contain NEW WORK BY CONFUCIUS. All anyone has to do to recognize that this as a fake is read the list of names on the front cover. It's an obvious joke; try to take it as one.
Nada is correct to acknowledge that the sheer number of names betrays the joke, but that doesn't change the fact that this action sets a certain precedent.
Furthermore, these guys are obviously people who can dish it out, but can't take the same joke when it's directed at them. I have a feeling that if I put them in my fake anthology there would be howls of protest from these same people who claim to be such "liberators of the author."
At most, it's a boring stunt. The poems aren't interesting, the act of stealing people's names isn't interesting. There's very little reason for it to exist, really. Let's move on to the next thing, people.
Tim, that's not even remotely the same thing as what this anthology does (or attempts).
A NAME IS NOT THE ART!
The question here, really, is not whether Issue 1 is "interesting" or "boring" (what's the opposite of "boring" in poetry?). What is amazing (and at the same time it's not) is what a passionate response there's been when someone puts your name in physical textual proximity to a poem-like text (a poem, a poem) the person usually related to that name did not write (or submit).
What's even more amusing (ah, the verb!) is the inability to see how self-referential this thing is. Try to explain the problem to anyone who is not a poet with a blog. They will blink and stare. This is so ridiculously insular it's worrying. I can't believe anyone can seriously be thinking of his poetic "reputation" in 30 years time.
The exercise is, at least to many of us, self-explanatory. We have read our critical theory and we live in the 21st century. We all send txt messages, listen to music on mp3 files and have online presences. We should know better that "text" is iterable and unstable. That referents do get lost.
There is no crime in Issue 1 any more than there was crime in "A Modest Proposal". Irony is all about understand contexts and intentions.
Seriously, to me this debate proves once more that we are not really ready just yet to live in the 21st century, just like it seems we are not ready yet for democracy, ethical, sustainable living or a re-definition of "globalisation".
So yes, let's move on, but not remaining our old selves. Let's learn something from this. Poetry is not about the name signing. Poetry is not even about reputations or big names. The anxieties that have been expressed prove our fear that the very ontology of poetry is being questioned. "What! A computer! Writing poetry! What? My name! On line! And next to something I did not authorize or even write! My god!"
Maybe now all "major" poets will have to copyright their proper names too. Or go back to print, because the Internet is too democratic, too "risky". (everyone can find you, everyone can use your name and publish something with it, folks). Is that it? A return to the roots, a form of poetic conservatism? Back to the caves to protect the sacred territory of our name?
Even those who don't have children (myself, for instance), can understand any parent's concern in that instance.
Somewhere in the San Francisco airport there's a giant mosaic of an embroidery my mother made for me when I was nine years old. No one asked my mother for permission to use it. We were thrilled and flattered to come upon it out of nowhere.
I guess I really must have a much more sort of potluck/tribal view of culture than those of you who would jealously guard your stuff.
Open. Open. Open.
"Is that it? A return to the roots, a form of poetic conservatism?"
Yes! Yes! Back to books! Hooray!
The internet is writ on (electronic) water. When the lights go out, what will you have?
And on the other hand, sometimes our basic impulses are correct. So cut the smarmy Duchampily Correct more-detached-than-thou BS.
Here's an excerpt, for what it's worth:
"What I like about the stunt is the way it exaggerates the features of writing in the Internet age, like a caricature exaggerates a politician’s brow or nose. That 3,164 poets could appear in the same collection but silo themselves off from the other contributors so completely—that they could find the site via Google Alerts, ‘Control-F’ search for their own piece and, sniffing out the writing as computer generated, scan their own blogs and poems for source text—seems like something that could happen only now, online, where the author functions largely as a search term. I don’t think “ego” is as relevant here as the structural features of Internet presence, which offers at the same time the possibility of total inclusion—why not 30,164 poets? 301,640?—and the power to weed out anything not relevant to us. The special anxiety of the Internet is in that contradiction, I think: that we might be simultaneously included and utterly ignored, like a poet name-checked in Issue 1."
Ron's (and other similar) responses to this performance are absolutely terrifying.
Chad
Clearly the menacing tone of your post feels like a overreaction to many, including me. I don't claim the anthology to have any more value than a kid's prank phone call, but the anthology is so clearly a joke (see the poems of any historical figure listed) that I'm not worried that my inclusion will somehow affect my reputation.
Is there any chance that you will post on this again? In your existing post, you come off to many as a bully, and I'm left without a good explanation of why you're so worried about being included in what is obviously a prank.
And what about blues music? Robert Johnson is famous for having written Rollin' and Tumblin' and Sweet Home Chicago, but in fact, Roll and Tumble Blues by Hambone Willie Newbern was recorded well before Johnson's version and "Old Original Kokomo Blues" by Kokomo Arnold and "Kokomo Bues" by Scrapper Blackwell both pre-date Johnson's version by quite a bit (listen to those songs and the melodies and large portions of the lyrics are lifted by Johnson and reworked to make the song about Chicago). Even in the age of copyright, Led Zeppelin's "Black Mountainside" is a BLATANT piece of theft. Jimmy Page simply learned Bert Jansch's guitar arrangement of the old English folktune "Blackwaterside" and made it instrumental. Hell, the entire British Invasion was a bastardization and cashing on black American blues.
How do you all feel about these cases in comparison?
Also, I take exception to some of Ed Baker's comments here about poetry students. I studied poetry, got a degree...and granted though I didn't take the traditional MFA or Ph.d route (I was in the MLA program at U Penn), that doesn't mean that somehow I lack the "soul" or understanding of a "poet". I've been writing poetry since I was 6 years old, and been having it published since I was 7. It's all I've ever wanted to do with my life, and I resent the condescending implication that somehow, because I chose to get a degree to advance my study of poetry, and because I enjoyed the academic setting where I got to interact with people like Charles Bernstein or Bob Perelman, that I somehow am not a REAL poet. It's comments like yours Ed that make me frightened to engage the poetic community at large, to keep putting my work out there, and to interact with people in any kind of meaningful way. And maybe that fear makes me a coward, but it doesn't make your sniping insinuations any less hurtful or counter-productive.
-Matthew Landis
"I don't know about you, Gary, but I have never left the books."
That's sort of an 'inside' joke, neverneutral. Most of my posts on the numerous poetry sites address my two main crusades: self-publishing (pro) and internet publishing (anti).
Bibliophiles unite! :-)
I will say, though, that this 'Issue 1' thing, love it or hate it, appears to have gotten the attention of every poet in the country. Jeez, I wish MY books would do that!
"One thing I haven’t been down with so much is the moralizing tone of those who see this as a “gotcha” moment for anyone who sets Google Alerts, or “ego surfs” or whatever. (Have you noticed this reaction, too?) This isn’t about narcissism I think so much as the particular kind of self the Internet tends to produce."
Some poets had to do this stunt in order point out that other poets are attached to their online avatars? Duh...
I don't know how meaningful any of the interaction around here has been lately, but I hope you're not really frightened to engage the poetic community. There are a fair number of assholes around here but the rest of the non-asshole poets more than make up for it, usually.
I think that the blues examples of theft and appropriation you're talking about is different than the faux anthology in that appropriation is about material being stolen and attributed to one's self....in the instance of the faux anthology, though, it's names that were stolen, which I am guessing is the reason why Ron calls it forgery rather than copyright infringement.
Take care.
I'm surprised by your reaction to Issue 1, in part given Tarzan Workshop, and your lengthy comment a day or two ago about it on Nicholas Manning's blog.
What could be more "duh" than the didactic point made by Tarzan Workshop?
But, as you might agree--or might once have agreed maybe--it's not the didactic point that matters so much as the experience of the piece. What happens (in the piece, in the audience, among the audience) as it unfolds.
Have you listened to the radio interview with the editors of Issue 1? According to them, they had no idea what to expect when they posted the project.
They didn't think they would get much response at all. It was a simple experiment. They weren't sure even what the experiment was, except that they knew what it consisted of (names attached to computer generated poems).
Listen to the interview here.
Anyway, I gotta say, Tim, I'm baffled by your response. Who cares whether the didactic point of the thing is dopey--especially considering the likelihood that no point was intended?
What about the experience of all of this talk and response to it, here, on Poetics, on Harriet, on Limetree, etc.?
the problem with this idea is that you can't steal a name because unless, i guess, your name is trademarked, you don't own it. I could change my name to Ron Silliman and start publishing under that name. That's possible, and there wouldn't be anything Ron could do about it. at least,I don't think so.
people with boring names like "Peter Davis" have to deal with this sort of thing all the time. i.e. the possibility that somebody won't be able to tell my work from the other poets writing who are also named "Peter Davis." getting used to this problem isn't that hard to do.
I think it's funny that people who know they didn't write something, automatically still assume that the name below refers to them. Of course i get why Ron thinks the "Ron Silliman" in issue 1 refers to him because, clearly, in that context it does. But that's the thing--it's about the context. i would think Ron could see that the context of the issue clearly indicates that the "real" Ron Silliman is not the author. so what's the problem?
It's not about "detachment" either. Like everybody else my first reaction was "wtf???? I did not submit anything". And then I got it. I laughed. I was puzzled.
In a way the interview demystifies Issue 1. But the anthology works beyond their authors' intentions or publicly-accepted intentions.
As far as I know Ron did not ask for permission to use the names on his blog roll. We as bloggers rarely do so. He did not ask for permission to reprint all the names included in Issue 1, either. He knew, because he is computer literate, that the names there would attract all of us here.
Why is it forgery for the Issue 1 guys to "use" our names, and not when other people have "re-posted" (through copy/pasting) the list of contributors on their blogs, like so many bloggers have done already? If the argument against it is that it potentially damages poetic reputations, isn't spreading the word about Issue 1 by posting the list of names totally unhelpful to protect all our so-called reputations?
Admire the people behind Issue 1, or hate them, or praise them, or mock them, or fear them, or pity them, or assume they are missing the boat. But don’t call them “editors,” at least in connection with this project.
I laughed. Never once felt threatened. Am not worried about what the project will do to my reputation. And I do have a reputation. Small. Mostly for honesty.
Like most everyone here, I’m vain to a greater or lesser degree. I know that after reading this, only a small handful of you will be curious enough to check my profile, and that there is almost no chance at all that you will read past the first few sentences of my blog and website, much less buy my books. But that’s okay. I do the same thing. There’s a limit to how many times a person can click his mouse in a day. There’s always something else to read, something more to write, and living itself is an undertaking that often hurts like hell. And that hell, that beautiful, private, universal hell, is one thing missing from Issue 1.
(generated by faulty brainware)
Seriously (or as serious as I’m able to be), I have no quarrel with any instrument, per se; I’d just rather the mind play the instrument than the instrument play the mind.
But you’ll have to forgive me. I grew up on a farm. I live in a city now, but I’m still quite attached to my shovel.
As for computer music, I’m not quite sure what that is. I live a fairly sheltered existence. That’s why I visit this blog. Little by little, I’m trying to alleviate my shameful ignorance. With your help, and the help of others, I hope someday to see the light. But it will be a long uphill battle, I’m sure.
but got "lost in the fun-house"
ahhhh the in-tell-lect
embraced by computer-i-znation!
I ain't for any of these morons running to be pres!
how'd you like my new book?
Yes, in fact, I am. Perhaps its a personal short-coming, but it's how I feel sometimes nonetheless. I used to try and make it out to readings and workshops and what not, but even then, I found myself hesitant to go up and talk to people let alone hand them some poems and say "If you have time, would you take a look at these?" I haven't done a reading in almost 8 years. I might try to make it out to the reading Ron is doing at Robin's since I'm a Philly native. I suppose it's a bit of a cop out for me to just well, duck that interaction for fear of running into the occasional asshole.
And as for yr point about forgery, I can see that aspect of it. But most appropriative art is a kind of forgery. It's a counter-signatory gesture. The erasure of one signature and the application of another. Appropriation begs an interesting question about signatures and naming, about the ego of the author or the identity complex of "the poet", a complicated and sometimes over-stated progeny. What can we say about outsider artists? Is Hannah Weiner still a poet, even though, some mental health professionals might say, much of her linguistic inventiveness derived the scattered linguistic processes and delusions associated with schizophrenia? Was she simply signing her name to a disease? I personally, do NOT think so, let me make that clear. But it's an interesting question. Is it really the name that makes a poet who s/he is?
-Matt Landis
*Finally*, someone said it.
I think I love you William Michaelian!
In thirty years, y'all will look silly, assuming anyone cares, of course.
"I live a fairly sheltered existence. That’s why I visit this blog."
Rachel Mallino said:
"I think I love you William Michaelian!"
Well, Bill...at least you got a date out of the deal. :-)
Ed Baker said:
"how'd you like my new book?"
You think someone actually bought it, Ed?
Hee hee. Just funnin'.
Authorship--to write or to own--is one thing. None of the poems here are "ours," so we don't own them and can easily (and legitimately) enough disclaim responsibility for them or how people--some of whom might not be poets--might interpret them. I would argue that if the sum result of the anthology was to remove or obliterate authorship in a kind of attempt to imply poetry is a bunch of random language, then the "anthology" would actually have to be authorless. At 3000-plus real poets/writers involved it's not. It's more accurate to call it mis-authored vs. unauthored, which brings me to the issue of attribution, make that false attribution--to ascribe to, or pin on--which is bigger and thornier), especially given the use of one particularly vile racial epithet (see p. 1132--and that's just one poem I could reference) the computer-program favors using. It's the only epithet I found scanning the whole "anthology," in fact the only offensive word used (I couldn't even find a "damn!")
What's troubling is, of course, the word itself, though certainly most of us would agree that a poem using a racial epithet is not necessarily "racist," and that, however contemptible, a poet can use whatever vocabulary he or she chooses to write a racist poem. That's basic free speech.
The point here is that the poems with the offending word are credited to real people, which makes the argument about authorship and the responsibility it carries more serious than the initial blitheness the project can meaningfully address. It needs people to do that. The machine, on its own, so far as I know, can not dialogue about race and its slurs, but maybe that's next?...if it is capable, I'd ask the program if using a racial epithet is inherently racist? If it can answer, I'd then ask how/why it chooses the language it does--what its trying to accomplish, other than fulfilling its algorithmic dicate. If it could respond, I imagine it would say it depends, but it won't because it can't, because being a program it lacks conscience, the ability to process and adjust language to context, and has no sense of audience beyond what it is programmed to consider, cannot comprehend the gut-wrenching, loaded conversation that is race in America.
Do we ask the same questions of the computer we would of a poet who takes credit, who, by name, is said to have authored it? What about the programmers?--what's their role in this?
I credit the creators of the "anthology", intentionally or accidentally, with raising these questions--they are complex, without mono-answer, and I wonder how they'll respond.
What is clear to me, and should be to them (they handwrote the poets names one by one, I read) is that names, mostly the real names of real poets who a lot of us know by work and work alone, could be adversely affected, in part because the "anthology" is wickedly clever, at turns witty and others eccentric and sad, is slicky produced, and, thanks to the expansive capabilities of the pdf., endlessly, universally downloadable.
Yes. We poets get the joke, and, hell, I really like my poem, but then it doesn't contain one of the meanest words in the English language. But I worry about those who won't. Don't tell me they're unlikely to peek in, let alone attempt to read the whole thing, even if it's 99% true. They're out there, not potentially but really, and I'm not sure the "It wasn't me, boss/university department head/grant granting organization, really, I swear it was a prank--I'm not a racist, a computer wrote it" will suffice.
--Nicole Mauro
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Does this mean that one cannot teach Heart of Darkness in "America" any more?
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To be honest, as a Mexican national I find the continuous reduction of the whole continent to one single country more offensive than the use of any offensive racial epithet. But that's another discussion...
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And I find terribly scary the notion that any "boss/university department head/grant granting organization" would a) take the time to scan through a thing like this, and b) to think negatively of anyone who wrote a poem including an offensive word.
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Next time they will be banning (again) Ginsberg or Hughes, then.
But it's not just an offensive word. It's a loaded, complicated word of import and impact that goes beyond simple offensive. i.e. "fuck," also offensive to some, is a verb, and so serves a rhetorical purpose—but this is a slur, and its sole purpose is to damage, degrade and hurt. Offensive the slur in question is, but it is not only what it is.
I brought the issue up because:
1. It's the only epithet in the whole doc. that I could find, to the exclusion of all other slurs and foul language (I should say I'm wholeheartedly for the foul in the poetry,
and not a believer in censoring or sanitizing). As to Ginsburg, Conrad, Twain etc. they used it with understanding of the word's power at the time, whereas Erica the computer has not.
2) I agree the university/boss scenario I described is scary, but not entirely implausible. In their essay “Words That Hurt” van Dijk and Donaldson explain part of problem with discussing the epithet is lack of serious, in-depth (read worthy of research sabbatical) study of it, in part caused by unusual academic hesitation to fund a study of the word in question. So I assume if universities are hesitant about studying it, they’re also concerned—probably unduly and overly--about use, esp. among the faculty who would have to use it. If discovered—and I grant it’s not likely it would—I’m not sure how they’d respond to its use under the pretense of a hoax.
3) Finally, I’m not sure if it matters if discovered. What matters is choice. We make careful decisions about words—esp. as poets. Conrad and Ginsburg and Twain decided to use the word, and I don’t doubt their authorial decision to for a minute. The difference here is they got to decide, it was not decided for them. What troubles me is that a program—not a human—“decided” to use the word, and then turned around and pinned that word on a human.
There's nothing I hate more than poets who take themselves too seriously.
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