Commentaries - February 2009

NASA's Nazis

Back in the 90s, Linda Hunt (who had been with CNN) was writing a book about all the former Nazi scientists who had then come to the U.S.

Alphabet review

Here’s a video of Rachel Blau DuPlessis’ statement about Ron Silliman’s The Alphabet, which she (with the help of Phillip Barron) prepared for the Silliman celebration earlier this week at the Kelly Writers House. An entry I made a few days ago gives you a little more information about the event and a link to that video.

Funk talk

Naomi Beckwith considers funk a language. Listen to her 2005 talk, with lots of musical samples. (Don’t be put off by the beginning of the recording; the music is too loud at first.) For more about Naomi and the program, click here.

Elders and youngers

Belladonna Books has just published the fourth in a series called The Belladonna Elders Series, featuring Susan Bee, Marjorie Perloff, and the late Emma Bee Bernstein (with an introduction by Johanna Drucker). You can buy a copy of the book here. This is Belladonna’s bio on Emma:

Regarding and beholding

Teaching Stevens's "The Snow Man"



Each January, at our "Mind of Winter" event, I lead a communal interpretation of Wallace Stevens's "The Snow Man." This year we caught it on video, and here it is.