Commentaries - September 2016

Jerome Rothenberg: Pound, Yip, & Chinese Poetry in America

[From a lecture, August 2002, for the Chinese Comparative Literature Association meetings in Nanjing. Recovered 2016 as an introduction to a new book of Wai-lim Yip’s “poetry in English,” scheduled for publication next year in Hong Kong.

Erasure Poetry: A revealing (ii)

Refracting documents

[image: "Zong! #3," M. NourbeSe Philip]
"Zong! #3," M. NourbeSe Philip

In my previous post, I wanted to address the inherent political implications of how erasure poetry refracts a document into another one. I also asked: How do some poets use the rupturing of a text in order to reclaim, redress, resist? How does the intentional absenting of language attempt to succeed where its presence cannot? With this in mind, Zong! by M.

Before um we begin

Claire Nashar reading at Sappho Books (Glebe)
Claire Nashar reading at Sappho Books (Glebe)

How do they read experimental poetry in Sydney?

There is a rich critical history examining the relationship between page and performance within the scene of the “poetry reading,” particularly when it comes to texts that can be identified with an avant-garde tradition.[1]

This series will examine experimental vocal, somatic performances, not necessarily given by Sydney poets, but within Sydney reading environments. Our environment is Australasian and ultra urban, near university campuses (spaces of cockroaches, coffee, warm weather, high rent). 

How do they read experimental poetry in Sydney?

There is a rich critical history examining the relationship between page and performance within the scene of the “poetry reading,” particularly when it comes to texts that can be identified with an avant-garde tradition.[1]

This series will examine experimental vocal, somatic performances, not necessarily given by Sydney poets, but within Sydney reading environments.