Inside Jokes, Giggles and Self Absorbed Poets

Near to my mother's hometown is the Vittoriale of Gabrielle D'Annunzio. In many ways the Vittoriale is the kind of house a poet would design it bears all the narcissism that is so much a part of our art form.

The home has everything original folios of Dante and Shakespeare, Marble reliefs of the greatest italian poems. A bathroom that is to say the least poetic and a battleship jutting out
of a mountain.

As a small child I would go the Vittoriale with my Grandparents we would make a day of it lunch, Gelato, Vittorale, Nap.

In Italy poets, even Fascists like D'Annunzio are held in high esteem. When I Published my first book of poems that was a moment of pride in our house. Being an artists was something to be respected. In the valley where my mother is from artists and poets can get a free ride and their lives are allowed to unfold as they see fit. It helps being in one of the world's most beautiful places as well.

I often think about D'Annunzio and his narcissism when I am at poetry readings. How many poetry readings have I sat through where inside jokes and giggles are the norm. I have sat through work that is just filled with self absorb ion and giggles. I wrote earlier this month that I thought that the reason for Flarf and also Ironic Poetic is now in question because of the election of Barack Obama as president. I also questioned the validity of the Obscurist trend that is embodied by a couple of poets here in Chicago but is part of our larger poetic reality. I was excoriated for these comments both on line and in emails to my personal account- I especially like being excoriated because I know that I have hit a nerve which means people are thinking.

I have stopped going to many poetry readings. The reason is that there is so much 'inside' baseball. I have sat through Flarf readings where everyone sits there-trying to understand and a small group sits in the corner and giggles at the insider jokes. I have sat through readings where the poet has to explain that he/she is using this source material from a 9th Century Zen Koan rather than letting the world speak for itself. I go back to what Mark Tardi said to me once that the work will stand or fall on its own merit no matter how obscure or 'clever' you make it.

As we move into a new age- and I do believe that it is a new age-we see global forces redefining what we are to be. I recently read the new issue of Sibila a Brazilian on line magazine published by Regis Bonvicino. He wrote a mostly laudatory essay about Obama. But just a year or so ago he and Charles Bernstein while in Brazil wore Abu Graib inspired hoods to a poetry reading. They used that tragedy as a backdrop to their poetry. This was an easy way of appearing provocative but what now? Bonvicino and Bernstein used our national political tragedy as a vehicle to contextualize their poetry and to appear cutting edge. This is what poets should be doing but what do poets do now?

In a response to an earlier blog post Dave Pavilich (I think it was Dave) wrote that really nothing has changed and that during the Kennedy Administration other bad things happened. He also defended the obscurist tendencies of some poets. But is poetry to always be inside baseball? Is it always to be some rarefied conversation between MFA's and other smarty pants? OF course the poets who dwell in the obscure are there for a reason that is where they can matter. But shouldn't poets try to do more?

I think about Vallejo politically active, intellectually curious, poetically spectacular. There is a poetic that really speaks on many levels to a time and place. Does the poetry we have created do this? Shouldn't we ask it to do more than be an insider club or a marginal retreat for academics and sycophants?

As a person who works in business rather than academia I see what is happening around our nation clearly. Companies are firing people, money is drying up, people are losing their homes, we are a nation filled with uncertainty. I do not know if irony and inside baseball gigglefests are what we need now? I do not know if poetry that is about obscurity is where we need to be?

I keep going back to older work. I look at poems like Mauberley and the Wasteland or even Patterson and I see depth and texture. I see poems about something and I see poems that are teasing out the sense of a time and place. I think that techniques like Flarf are interesting just as Language writing is interesting but I keep asking myself is this what we need now? Is cleverness and insider poetry what needs to be written?

Or should we be about more?

So much poetry now is written for the margins because it is in these micro communities that a modicum of success can be achieved by a poet. Look at the SPD catalogue lots of communities are represented but where is the working class writing, and where is the world writing?

Does anyone in the academy care about the working class? Studs Terkel just died two weeks ago would SPD have a section for someone like him? Does anyone is poetry really care about in the words of Kenneth Rexroth getting their nose in the armpits of the people?

So I guess again I bellow from my fat belly and ask does any of this matter?

As I spend time with old literary friends mostly for solace; Rexroth, Sorrentino, Augustine, Williams, & Vallejo. I continue to look amid our current poets for this kind of depth and texture.

Is poetry just about our own narcissism? Or is there more to be written? What happens when the nation and the world continues to go into a deep economic downturn?

Do we continue to giggle at our own cleverness?

Obama's America the Death of Irony and Mediocrity

Josh Corey- mentioned a recent post of mine about

Obama and the end of irony in our poetics. What I think is a deeper question is that poetry and poetics have been dominated by two tendencies in recent years- fascileness and a fixation on the obscure.

The fascileness in poetry is embodied by the Flarfists and other nonsense poetry that substitutes chance for craft. Chance of course is a great tool in art. I for one am a huge fan of Jackson Pollock and much of drip painting for example began in chance and it has grown into great art. But having said that you do not get great craft from chance.

It is hard for example when looking at a great piece of architecture to separate the craft of the work from the form. Many times in poetry there is an elitism which simply removes so much of the potential audience as to make the work a secret of the know club rather than art or even communication.

Another fixation is on the obscure. We have a large school of Obscurists here in Chicago. Poets like Peter O'Leary and John Tipton who are great at Craft. These are good examples of Obscurists poetry. They tend to be elitists and are drawn to very peculiar minutiae as fonts of the work. O'Leary for example will use medieval Byzantine monastic tropes, Tipton will re translate Ajax and so the poetry instead of being nonsense like Flarf and instead of being left to chance is very controlled. The control however protects the poet from engaging with the world as it is- rather the poet constructs his/her cathedral and dwells in it in a kind of sacred mystery.

So why do these two tendencies present a problem for poetry as we move into an age where irony is challenged?

I am convinced that many poets retreat into obscurity or fascileness because they are insecure with their place in our society. During the Bush era it was easy to think of oneself as John the Baptist or St Simon of the Pillar standing against the barbarians. But in the age of Obama how does a poet do this and remain a prophet and not a frothing at the mouth lunatic? The problem is that poetry is filled with people who have peculiar gifts. Most poets are not in the business of big things and we are woefully low on poets with big projects. The result of this is that poets retreat into obscurity or fascileness because it is easier than engaging with the world.

So Obama presents for poets a challenge. We are already marginal --but does poetry as an artform want its innovative and experimental self to become anachronistic? I have argued for a long time that poetry needs to reach out to the greater world of poetry for answers. Even a nonsense/ironist poet like Charles Bernstein has done this with his great interaction and work with the Brazilian poet Regis Bonvicino.

Having said this I think that it is time for poetry- especially of the experimental variety to move out of the shadows into the light. I think that best model for this type of poetics is a place like Brazil. In Brazil most poets are engaged in a greater dialogue with their society. There are fewer readers of poetry in Brazil than there are here in the USA but many of the poets are about big things.

I just translated RETRATO TOTÊMICO DE CLAUDE LÉVI-STRAUSS by the Brazilian poet Sergio Medeiros. In this work Medeiros weaves Strauss, Scriabin and Ives into a work that has challenged silences. None of these subjects are particularly Brazilian but the work itself harkens back to not only Iberian writing but to Guarani and the Jesuit reductions in its complexity. (the work will appear in the next issue of the magazine Mandorla) When I look at the work that some of these Brazilian poets are doing- with its depth and layering I think this is where poetry in the USA must go.

We must move away from a poetry of shallowness. I would use poets like Duncan, Olson and Creeley as models but also the linguistic strength of a poet like Stein would do as well. We cannot as an artform remain in this world of throw away poetry and throw away opportunities. The moment we are in with a new president and a new age before us offers as chance to open dialogue with global poets and also to our past. A past not without irony but also a future with a big project.

What Has Changed... 1928-1968, 1968-2008

Before 1928 no Roman Catholic had ever run for President. The nomination of Alfred E Smith
the Governor of New York ushered in a new America. The America of White Ethnics, Catholics, Jews and Labor Unions.

There would never have been FDR without Alfred E Smith. Most Americans today do not know who Smith was but he was essential to the America that came later. Before Smith most progressives came from the country like William Jennings Bryan after Smith they came from places like New York and Chicago.

From Smith's nomination until August of 1968, forty years the New Deal coalition of Catholics, Jews, Working Class Workers, Poor Southerners, Blacks and Intellectuals dominated American politics. On the streets of Grant Park that coalition was destroyed. Southerners and most Catholics left the Democrats and for the next 40 years they voted for Republicans. The Nixon-Reagan coalition was almost unbeatable.

Alfred E Smith was done in by bigotry and hatred of Catholics. The Republican coalition was done in by the Bigotry of the Republicans toward immigrants somewhere Al Smith is smiling.
It has been discovered that a huge amount of Hispanic and other Immigrants and their families voted for Barack Obama. The hatred of Immigrants by the Republicans and their allies has created a new coalition. One that Al Smith would recognize and feel right at home in again.

On Tuesday a new coalition was born. Barack Obama, African, Irish, son of immigrants, Chicagoan, Hawaiian, has created a new world. In many way Obama has done another thing he has made it impossible to demonize people for their skin color in national elections and for this he is a world changer.

Silvio Berlusconi the president of Italy made a racist remark about Obama being tanned. While 'the knight' is a moron he does embody a kind of bigotry that is rampant in many places where culture is equated with race. (Europe, China, Japan, Korea other places). My family comes from the north of Italy in Brescia and in the little town where my mom is from a person like Barack Obama is very alien. In Chicago my hometown in America Barack Obama is our favorite son.

That says something about America doesn't it?

Poets and Poetry in the Age of Obama

I have been thinking alot about poets and poetry in the face of what an Obama presidency means over the past couple of days. For most of the past forty years poets could default to the counter cultural because of the political realities of the United States. Poets could retreat into a corner with other poets and create complete poetry worlds insulated from the big bad world. Poetry has become almost like Kabbalah or Scrabble rather than a grand art form. Either a secret practice or a odd craft.

It has been an easy default for poets to exist as ironic cynics who live juxtaposed against the corporatism and conservatism of the past 40 years. In fact if you look at poets who have built much of their street cred around irony and cynicism (Charles Bernstein comes to mind) a sense that their work is dated and anachronistic in light of new realities becomes a real question. How do we read the Girly Man poems with Barack Obama in the White House? It almost seems as out of date as reading poems about Mc Carthyism.

It is not that we are entering the sacred Millennium with Obama but what we are entering is an age where many of our values as poets are embodied in our President. I go back to an earlier post where I talk about Obama being a member of Seminary Co-op here in Chicago. Obama is a serious reader and is more intelligent than most poets I know- this could not be said for Bush or Clinton. Where do we as poets position ourselves how can we be social critics when the President embodies much of what we desire for America? Where do we find our edge? Do we move into the kind of navel viewing that so many poets prefer? Do we retreat into the academy as so many poets are wont to do? How do we engage now with a new and better world where our irony and cynicism don't really compute?

One of the things that has embodied so much of contemporary poetry is a focus on irony and cynicism. You see this in so many poets today the irony of Flarf or the hip poet writing of many young women poets even the crypto marxism of Language poetry. The reality of this poetic sense is that you can live life as a kind of drive by shooting where you leave your slugs in society and drive off to your next kill. Since none of us have ever had a president with whom we believed (In the way Americans believed in JFK or FDR) how do we now relate? Do many of our poetic projects become redundant and in need of revision?

I think that it is important for poets and other creative people to ask themselves the question of what we do next? Do we as a creative community continue to dwell at the margins- doing work that is ironic and cynical but marginal? Or do we rethink our poetic project and begin to believe again that poetry can be trans formative? How do poets whose whole lives have been spent in irony and cynicism learn new ways of being poets?

In the end this is a dialogue for the poetry community to have with itself but lets just say that with the age of Obama the time when a poet can get away with the Girly Man poems is past and we need a new paradigm of poetic conversation.

What Obama Means for Poets

On the day I was born, May 14th 1967 African Americans had been using the same water fountains as Whites in the south for two years. I have witnessed bussing, White Flight, Willie Horton and Law and Order pleas within my lifetime. I have also witnessed the election of an African American president.

What does this mean for poets?

I believe that in many ways it destroys current paradigms of poetry built on irony and inside baseball. So much of our current poetry is vaguely political, ironic and cynical. How is one cynical and ironic in front of President Barack Obama? We poets need to look again at what we do and realize last night the world has changed, for the better. We are entering a new world and one where we as Americans are not reviled in the world. How will we deal with that?

A Few Hours

We are a few hours away. This morning I voted and saw a little miracle. A African American family, Mom, Dad three year old. They voted and the father took the child's picture and told him "remember this day".

It made the day for me.

What if Obama loses?

What if Obama loses?

Last night traudi and I went for a walk in Oak Park, IL where we live and almost every home had multiple Obama signs. If Oak Park is along with the Senator's own Hyde Park the Obama heartland. Our area is 35% African American, we are also a neighborhood filled with Chicago White Ethnics, Fauxemian liberals and Cosby Show blacks. Oak Park is a place that those like Sarah Palin views not a Real America.

We in Oak Park do not live in the 'real america'.

It is ironic we live in Open America because we live less than a mile from what was once ground zero between Real America and Open America; Cicero, Illinois (the hometown of Al Capone). In 1967, the year of my birth, the Italian, Bohemian and Polish whites of Cicero stoned Martin Luther King as he marched for Open housing. That was 41 years ago. Cicero also welcomed George Wallace, Richard Nixon and many others it was the home of the angry white ethnic urban backlash. Within a block of my house are areas denuded of people from White Flight in the 1960's and 70's. But today all these neighborhoods White, Black and Hispanic are voting for Barack Obama.

What has happened?

Cicero, Today once the city of backlash is multi-ethnic, Hispanic, White Ethnic and Black and in the Illinois Primary in February went 82% for Obama. Can you imagine in 1967 yardsigns with a black man's name in Cicero? Well I am looking at them and believing that Open America can beat Real America. Just maybe?

So now after all the donations, phone banking, and struggle could Barack Obama lose? Well in a word yes he could. The fact is that the America of Barack and Michelle Obama is alien to many but it is the America most of us dwell in today.

Imagine what might happen tomorrow?

Michelle Obama's family is desended from Slaves. Her children are descendants of Slaves. Barack Obama recently at a Chicago restaurant was thrown car keys one of the diners thinking he was the valet. This family will become the first family and make Open America a reality. Dr King's Dream writ large.

Do We live in Open America. Or 'real' America?

There are millions of Americans who view Open America as alien America. The America where Blacks, Hispanics, Euro-Americans, Women, Gay Americans and more meld and build a new place is alien to them. Open America is the future but does that future come tomorrow? I am beside myself with anticipation.

Are we going to let "real America" defeat "open america"?

It is fitting that in the week that Studs Terkel died that another son of Chicago is trying to bring to the fore the Open America. Have we changed enough? Georgia GOP senator Saxby Chambliss sent an email to his supporters telling them "the other folks are voting". The other folks are voting- will this be enough? He was referring to the African Americans in Georgia but he was also referring to me.

In the end it is 24 hours before the first election of the 21st Century or the last of the 20th. It is our choice.

Do we want Open America or Real America?

We can hope...

Barack Obama's Southsider and President

Last week I was at the world's greatest bookstore, Chicago's Seminary Co-op chatting with Jack Cella the General Manager. Jack is one of those great people that make Chicago the best place in my estimation to live in America.

Jack runs what is for many of us the best place in Chicago the fabulous Seminary Cooperative Bookstore which in an age of Amazon and Digital books still has the warm glory of a great bookstore with the whole of humanity within its walls.

Jack said something to me that is profound. The sem coop is a membership bookstore. We as members all own the co-op and one thing that I share with our (hopefully) next president is membership the Co-op. I think that this says allot about Barack Obama that he is intellectually curious enough to be a member of such a place. Then I began to think about the other places on the South side that are part of Obama's life.

The great sadness for us who are Chicagoans is the the next president will leave us for Washington. But if you want to experience a little of Barack's world here are some places that he loves; Apart from Seminary Co-op which for me is the best place to visit in the city here are some other places;

Medici Pizzeria in Hyde Park which is right next to 57th Street Books (Part of Seminary Co-op) has tee shirts that say Obama Eats here. I once say Obama eating there and I wish I had had the guts to ask for an autograph!

US Cellular Field Every White Sox fan is proud that Barack is one of us. He does not belong to the Cubs and he has chosen to proclaim that he is one of us... when you come to Chicago go to the Southside for what Obama said is 'Real Baseball' White Sox baseball.

Frontera Grill Obama loves Rick Bayless's restaurants and so do I come and eat Tacos and think about Barack.

Negro League Cafe near Barack's (Or President Obama's) house is this memorial to the great Negro Leagues.

Barack is a Southsider and a Chicagoan and hopefully this son of Chicago my hometown will bring to Washington what is good about our town. Chicago is a place we produced Studs Terkel, Nelson Algren, Nat King Cole, Buddy Guy, Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, Richard J Daley, Harold Washington, Oprah Winfrey, Enrico Fermi and Milton Friedman. We are not the stereotype we are a great city and great hometown for our next President.

Barack we are so proud of you....

Barack Obama and Wealth

Much has been written and screamed about lately about Barack Obama and 'socialism'. The fact that Mr Obama wants to spread around the wealth of our society is viewed as a Marxist evil while greed and the concentration of wealth are viewed as "American" and "free". Keeping ones money is a mantra for the Republican candidate. Most of the self professed Republicans are "christians". What that means we do not really know? But we know what Jesus had to say about what he demands from his followers on this score. Does what Jesus demanded jive with what McCain is proposing?

Matthew 25, 31-46 New Jerusalem Bible

31 'When the Son of man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory.
32 All nations will be assembled before him and he will separate people one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats.
33 He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right hand, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome,
36 lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me."
37 Then the upright will say to him in reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we find you sick or in prison and go to see you?"
40 And the King will answer, "In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me."
41 Then he will say to those on his left hand, "Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you never gave me food, I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink,
43 I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, lacking clothes and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me."
44 Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or lacking clothes, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?"
45 Then he will answer, "In truth I tell you, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me."
46 And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the upright to eternal life.'

Does it sound like Jesus would vote for John McCain and the monied class? Or Barack Obama? What would Jesus do? It seems to me that this answer is clear. The world Christian is used by scoundrels throughout history. But in fact the "christians" who have run the Republican party are truly Goats to use Matthew's words.

Experience Brazilian Poetry in Chicago Audio

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=29342

Everyone please access the on line audio from the Experience Brazilian Literature in Chicago event held last month here in Chicago

Ignorance and this Week's History

I got some great feedback about my Ignorance post of a few days ago from Guillermo Parra, Johannes Gorensson and Patrick Durgin. All three of these poet/editors are part of the global choir they are leaders. They are all examples of the exception to the rule poets who are well read and global in their mindsets.

It would have been great to get feedback from members of the "Poetic Class" who continue to live in their cheerleaderlike micro world. But those poets are too busy telling each other how great they are.... But those poets will continue the great poetic roundtable of self strokes.

MarkNowak's XCP

Mark Nowak Facebooked me today. I have always been a huge Mark Nowak fan his poetry is great- in the way Nelson Algren or Walt Whitman are great he is an innovator and a person of the people. I wish there were more Mark Nowak's and less "Poetic Class" Cheerleaders around.

His magazine XCP is great it is one that I would love to get some poetry in someday. Here is another poet who does not spend allot of his time looking at his own navel.

We are in a week of history. It looks good for the election maybe, just maybe Barack Obama can pull this one out? I will add this to my prayers and good thoughts.

Peter Cole's Book

I just finished Peter Cole's Things on Which I've Stumbled. It is interesting because this book has all the pretentions of a New Directions Poetry book. His book of translations of Poetry from Islamic Spain came out to great acclaim although I found some of the translations lacking that wa a great book. His poetry is Medieval and Experimental at the same time but not pretentious like some poets of this ilk.

Camus Notebooks

I am glad I bought the book it goes well with Camus' Notebooks 1951-1959 that I just finishes that was just satiating in its richness. Is there anything better than Camus? I can't think of anything better.

Stanford Literature Podcasts

I downloaded from itunes the Stanford University podcasts. What a pleasure. I worked out the other day to Marjorie Perloff talking about Ezra Pound is there anything more relaxing? Everyone should go get these podcasts they are free and great.

So lets see how the week completes itself. Maybe this Severian moment in America's decline will be ended? Or do we continue to decline? Is Obama our Vespasian or our Diocletian? Time will tell?

Those Who are Not Ignorant

I wrote a post last week about the ignorance of world-poetry by most American poets. I have often complained about presses and poets that are so myopic that they choose to publish and read only narrow poetry by their friends.

For every Ugly Duckling Presse or Circumference magazine that chooses to highlight the broad world there is a Flood Editions or Denver Quarterly that chooses to highlight a narrow parochialism.


Having said this there are poets and presses that need to be highlighted.

• Patrick Durgin's Kenning Editions for example has done a yeoman's job of highlighting innovative and global writing and their new book by Laura Solorzano translated by Jen Hofer is a must read.
• Aufgabe Magazine and Litmus press published by E Tracy Grinnell annually does more for global literature than most University Presses. the latest Aufgabe on Italian poetry edited by jennifer scappettone is the best anthology of contemporary Italian verse currently in print.
• Mandorla edited by Kristen Dykstra does more for Latin American writing than most presses. Mandorla has brought some of Cuba's most important poets to American audiences for the first time.
• Ugly Duckling Presse from New York does a great job of highlighting Eastern European and othe global writing.
• The website Action Yes edited by Johannes Gorensson is prob. the best website for translations and global literature.
• The Brazilian magazine Sibilia edited by Regis Bonvicino is a great vehicle for American, Brazilian and European literature.

It is important to note that all of these efforts are independent non-profits. They need donations and support. So the next time someone asks you for money for a good cause- give to poetry and support these presses.

The Destruction of Books

"Our History is revealed by what we destroy as much as by what we preserve" this is how Fernando Baez's A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq.

Of late amid all the economic angst and fear I have found solace in something old and tried- serendipity.

In the age of Amazon.com and online shopping I still find my best books by the serendipity of shopping in a great bookstore.

In Chicago we are blessed to have what I think is the greatest bookstore in the United States, the Seminary Co-op. (http://semcoop.booksense.com/). Sem Coop is one of those places where one can find books by everyone from Origen and Horace to Mark Tardi and Peter Gizzi it is in short a great place.

One of my favorite spots is the 'front table' in which Jack Cella the magnificent General Manager places the 'most important' and 'most interesting' books for his bibliographically famished customers. On that table I found two books that satisfy and challenge a poet and a reader to be more.

The first book I found was Alberto Manguel's The Library at Night from the Yale University Press. The book is organized by chapters The Library as... the chapters are really interesting and in this book one description that really held me in thrall was his description of the library in the Theresinstadt Ghetto. If their exists a more moving story than the one Manguel shares with us about Jacob Edelstein's last moments on Earth I have not read it anywhere.

Manguel's book talks about many other things including the National Library of Argentina of Jorge Luis Borges. Manguel is an Argentine and this sensibility fills the book. If you love your library this is your book it takes one away from the banal to a time when time slowed and libraries determined cultural currency. Thomas Merton once said that when he passed a Church he felt like it was a reactor of holiness pulsing and filling the world with grace. I think Manguel's book says the same thing about Libraries and how they fill our world with grace as well.

The second book I found on the table later in the month was Fernando Baez's A Universal History of the Destruction of Books. Baez is the director of Venezuela's National library and his book is chronicle of great crime. He starts with Sumer and ends with Iraq in fact going around the world to chronicle the history of the destruction of books. The book starts talking about the great literate societies that sit at the base of our world. Sumer,China, Israel, Egypt and Greece.

For any lover of Books to hear the stories of the destruction of the libraries of the Hittites, Alexandria and the Egypt makes one wince.

Once we leave the ancient world we move into the middle ages. The time of Lindisfarne, Constantinople and Baghdad. In fact the book also talks about how the children of Lindisfarne (Catholics) Constantinople (Orthodox) and Baghdad (Muslim) proceeded to go out to the world and destroy libraries of Pagans, Native Americans, and Hindus. The saving and destroying of books leads us to pain and anguish about all that has been lost.

What is truly great about Baez's book is that it has short information packed chapters that bring you back to libraries. You want to sit with Rumi or Averroes or Aidan of Lindisfarne and watch them create and save books. Yet this book is about their destruction and the slow pain of this book leads us up to our present day and to the greatest evils of Communism, Fascism and Materialism.

Every child in the West has been brought up with the cliche of books being burned by Nazis. Even Indiana Jones movies have had this image. But the real import of the destruction of books by Nazis and Communists and others is that the openness of ideas which filled the world. It has been said that the Jews and the Germans were two peoples who believed that 'good culture' was important. The death of European Jewish culture and the destruction of Jewish libraries in Poland is one of the greatest crimes of human history. It presaged the destruction of 6 million people.

Baez's book ends with the destruction of libraries in Iraq. Finally he lists the greatest book crimes The Nazi Bibliocaust of 1933-45, Savonarola's Destruction in Florence in 1498, Huang's destruction of Chinese books in 213 BC, Mongol Destruction of the Baghdad library in 1258, the destruction of the library of Alexandria in 48 BC, the destruction of the Cordoba library in 980 the destruction of the Bosnia Library in 1992, and finally the destruction of the Mayan writings in 1562 and the burning of the Library of Congress in 1814.

This book makes one wince at the loss but it also makes real what matters. Ideas and the people who create them is what matters and this book talks about that reality. "Where they have burned books they will eventually burn people" Heine's great quote is writ large in this little book that anyone who loves books should run out at buy... now.

Fear Factor

Over the past two weeks the world has changed. Like August 1914, September and October 2008 will be remembered as the time that the old order passed away. Before September
assumptions bourne out by 60 years of post-war thought were in place.

America & Europe and the system set up after World War 2 functioned. People who had saved and invested for the past 30 years and are now retired were secure and their were problems but they could be over come.

It appears that that world is gone.

I am 41 and for most of my life I have worked in Business Publishing and events. I look around having survived the .com boom, housing boom and various recessions and I cannot find the intestinal fortitude to know what to do?

My parent's are losing their retirement savings.
My company is constricting.
My neighborhood is full of foreclosed houses.

The fact is that America is in decline and the whole thing appears to be unraveling. Because of greed and financial mismanagement and deregulation the world that was constructed in the West is coming apart. As we look at the new powers in the world, China, India and Brazil we realize that much of the liberal openness of Europe and America is now ignored or distained.
We are in the new world and fear reigns.

I watched a You Tube of a Mc Cain rally where the people beyed at the candidates spewing hatred the way Germans did in the late 1920's . This type of world in the 1930's led Germany to Hitler and America to Franklin Roosevelt. I wonder what choice we will make now? Do we still have a Roosevelt in us?

That Ignorance is Restraining

That Ignorance is Restraining

“Americans are too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture"Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures "The US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining."

With this quote Horace Engdahl the permanent secretary of the Nobel Prize for Literature dismissed American literature and the possibility of an American winning that prize. This quote caused much uproar and indignation among the American literati. How dare a Swede criticize America’s literary relevance and importance?

Imagine anyone suggesting that our writers are not worthy of the Nobel Prize?

I think that this quote caused such an uproar because in short it is true. I do not often interact personally with fiction writers but I do interact with Poets many of whom are ‘important’ in American literary parlance. I think that the structure of our literary culture in America leads to this Restraining Ignorance. While this I do not know if this is true for Fiction writers it is often true for American Poets.

Many American poets are trained in “creative writing” which means that their education is in how to write rather than in what to read. The result of this training is that their literary knowledge of poetry and prose in English, much less in other languages is very thin indeed.

Also, because most of the people who can afford to take two or three years to ‘study’ creative writing are from a particular social class and because graduate study is often a luxury whole parts of American society that might be more open to the world are excluded. When it comes to international writing very few American poets have any interest in global writing or poetry.

Most American poets know nothing of poetry outside of their particular small insular community and this is reflected in their work. Many American poets dwell in the poetry subculture which is concerned with poets, writing for other poets getting published by small presses run by poets, and getting reviewed by other poets. There is not much room in this subculture for the larger world.

In the United States, the world’s largest book buying market, the number of presses and magazines that give space to global writing and poetry are so small that I can list many of them here; Aufgabe Magazine and Litmus Press, Mandorla, Burning Deck, Ugly Duckling Presse, Circumference, Dalkey Archive Press, Action Books, occasionally the Chicago Review, occasionally the University of Texas Press and occasionally the University of California Press. The combination of the insular hothouse of American poetry and the lack of translations is slowly suffocating poetry in America into some sort of replay loop .

The fact is that most American poets do not have any interest in global writing or poetry as evidenced recently by a group of events that I organized here in Chicago recently. I guest edited a Brazilian section for the New York magazine Aufgabe which does a fabulous job of highlighting a global poetry scene in each issue. I was honored to translate and guest- edit an issue on Brazil in 2007.

The Brazilian consulate general and Litmus Press which publishes Aufgabe magazine invited four very well known Brazilian poets to read in Chicago. The four poets who read, Paulo Henriques Britto, Virna Teixeira Sergio Medeiros and Maria Esther Maciel are well known globally and inside Brazil. We organized three events in this city over four days. We advertised and publicized the events widely in Time Out, on all the poetry list sites, Facebook and via email lists. I figured with over 50 poets who have published books in the past five years here in Chicago they would jump at the chance of seeing four well known poets from one the world’s most important poetry communities.

The first event was organized at Northwestern. Professor Reginald Gibbons did a great job on that campus and we had a great turnout of people interested in global poetry. The event itself was a success The fact is however that no one from the local Chicago poetry community chose to attend that event in Evanston. The students at Northwestern were great and Dr Gibbons was great and the poets were honored to spend time with them.

The Second Event was at the University of Illinois at Chicago and it was also well attended by non poets. Some local Chicago poets of note did attend, Garin Cycholl organized the reading and Christina Pugh who is with the Poetry Foundation and poets brought her class, Francesco Levato and Chris Glomski also attended the event. This reading had a good crowd and I was very thankful to UIC for hosting it.

The final event we produced at the Harold Washington Library Center was on a Saturday Afternoon. It was also well attended with many people from the local Brazilian community but the number of Chicago poets who attended was small, Patrick Durgin William Allegrezza, Melissa Severin, Kerri Sonnenberg and a few others attended.

By my count about 10 Chicago poets of note chose to attend the readings over the four Brazilian poetry events. In fact of the approximately 100 people who attended these three readings only 10 were local poets of note. I think the local reaction attests well to the insularity of so many. This level of interest is indicative of the state of poetry and poets- to say nothing of literature in a major city in the United States.

Many American poets exist within a poetic hothouse. They live insular lives in which they get published by friends they knew at grad school. Their work is often reviewed by ‘critics’ with whom they are friends. The result of this is a poetic culture of insularity that approaches a clique. There are very few American poets who choose to dialogue globally.

You can count on two hands the number of poets in the United States who care about global literature and translation. Poets/Writers like Charles Bernstein, Jennifer Scappettone. Tracy Grinnell, Sawako Nakayasu, Jen Hofer, Patrick Durgin, Douglas Messerli, Pierre Joris, Kristen Dykstra and others are rare exceptions to a hard rule of ignorance of the wider world. Most poets in the United States would rather exist within their poetic hothouse. If you want to see this culture in action come to Chicago in February for AWP where itwill be in full flower.

To expect insularity from Americans is understandable we are an insular people. Iff you wonder however why an American poet will not be the winner of the Nobel Prize this year don’t blame the poor Swedish bureaucrat who spoke the truth- blame the poetic culture in the USA which is often insular and ignorant of the outside world.

Baseball-Poetry & Brazilians

October is normally for me a calm month. But with all the anguish of the economy and being forced to listen to Sarah Palin's screeching voice this October will be different.

BRAZILIAN POETRY PALOOZA

Last week we hosted four Brazilian poets, Paulo Henriques Britto, Maria Esther Maciel, Sergio Medieros and Virna Teixiera.

These events were sheer pleasure. Northwestern hosted them for a reading and Professor Reginald Gibbons was a real gentle man in doing so. The poets then read at the UIC Humanities Institute and were hosted by Garin Cycholl and finally there was a great Saturday Reading at the Harold Washington Library.

The best thing about these readings was the attendance by a more general public. Unlike most poetry events in Chicago the local 'community' of poets did not dominate the attendance. Often, Chicago Poetry events are dominated by the same faces but at these events most of them were not in attendance but other people came and listened to poetry from another world and I hope that their efforts lead to more dialogue.

BASEBALL IS BETTER THAN POLITICS

Barack Obama (SOX FAN) is going to win the presidency and Joe Biden is going to clean the floor with Sarah Palin and the economy will be ok so lets worry about what really matters; for the first time since 1906 both Chicago teams are in the playoffs. There is a chance for an L World Series here which would end up crazy but also great... imagine beating those Cubs-- in the World Series it would be something....

CUBS HATRED ON HOLD

I am putting my Cubs hatred on hold for this month since I need to give the good energy to them in place of my friend Mark Tardi who is rooting from Lodz. I hope they win so that we can replay 1906 this year and beat them hard. But the entire city of Chicago is thinking about baseball and just maybe we can get the Chicago trifecta- Sox-Cubs World Series- Obama as president,

Imagine?

GO GO SOX

The White Sox won the Central Division last night in a great game. Did you see that throw from Ken Griffey? That put out? The fact that we beat the Twins. This will not be a calm October.
Maybe this will be a good one?

Go Sox, Go Barack--- lets win!

EXPERIENCE BRAZILIAN LITERATURE IN CHICAGO

EXPERIENCE
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE
IN CHICAGO

Brazilian Authors Reading
From Aufgabe 6

Maria Esther Maciel • Paulo Henriques Britto
Sergio Medeiros • Virna Teixiera

Spons ore d By: Litmus Press • Northwestern University
The Consulate General of Brazil • Chicago Poetry Project


Thursday, September 25th
5:00 pm
Northwestern University
Kresge 2-301, 2nd Floor
(west end of building)
Spanish & Portuguese seminar
room, Evanston, IL
org/pages/brazilfest08.html
or email Raymond.bianchi@gmail.com

Saturday, September 27th
3:00 pm
Chicago Author’s Room
Harold Washington Library Center
400 S. State St. 7th floor
Chicago, IL
For More Details: litmuspress.
Friday, September 26th

1:00 pm
Humanities Institute at
University of Illinois Chicago
(bottom floor of Stevenson Hall)

Farewell to My Friend Mark Tardi

I became friend with Mark Tardi in 2003 when I moved back to Chicago-we were introduced by another friend Kerri Sonnenberg. I will always be grateful to Kerri for knowing Mark.

Mark leaves today for Lodz, Poland to do a Fulbright and I will miss his insights very much.

Many poets are unable to downshift and be real human beings. Many poets are unable to be regular people and enjoy life at many levels. Mark, while an intellectual of the first order is also good for a great baseball talk or just a hang out Mark will be missed.

Mark's poetry is important but he has never been self-important which is refreshing in a poet. How many times have you had to sit through the self importance of a poet and his/her vision? So as Mark leaves Chicago we lose another poet in our midst.

Lodz's gain is Chicago's loss.

Chicago Curses and Barack Obama

A month ago it appeared that Chicago was ascendant.

Finally after so many years of sunbelt dominance our Chicago with all its good and bad was moving to center stage. It was not New York that produced a moving trans formative presidential candidate- and two great Baseball teams it was our Chicago.

But to paraphrase Nelson Algren our city's broken nose does not please plastic and strip mall America. They hate us. A month ago it appeared that the Cubs and the White Sox (Barack Obama's own) would both make the playoffs. Maybe we would have a Crosstown World Series and a President from our town- this would surely lead to Chicago getting the 2012 Olympics.

Chicago would be center stage.

It appears however that all these plans are being destroyed by multiple curses. The Cubs are collapsing they have lost so many games that even the mellow Lou Pinella is frustrated- the White Sox are filling up with injuries and slowly falling and our favorite son, Barack Obama is being eviscerated by a moose killing woman who cannot even pronounce Iraq (It is e rack not I Rack) correctly.

Our City has been slandered. Bill O'Reilly of the vast Right Wing Conspiracy continues to say that Chicago is "radical" and "crazy left" as if the Haymarket Rioters run our town and Richard J Daley never existed. Now the curses the billy goat for the Cubs Shoeless Joe Jackson for the White Sox are returning- and overflowing the Barack Obama campaign. Our curses will result in four more years of pain and decline and having to listen to Sarah Palin's annoying accent.

I know that it is silly to believe in curses. But how is it possible that the party that caused so much pain and incompetence (Iraq, Katrina, 6.1% unemployment, the Mortgage mess) is going to win the election? How is that an annoying Hockey mom can be allowed the absorb all the racist attitudes of Americans and make hating Barack Obama (Community Organizer and Radical Chicago Dweller) ok and lead to his defeat? How is it possible that both the Cubs and my White Sox wont make the playoffs?

It must be a curse- or a nightmare.....

Why they Hate Community Organizing.

John McCain stumbled through a speech last night arguing for change? But the Republicans have been running Washington since 1994?

The line of attack in the GOP convention that troubled me the most was their derision of community organizing. I write this as a person who is a few years younger than Barack Obama.

When I was in my mid twenties I worked as a Lay Missioner for the Franciscans in Bolivia and it is the seminal event of my life. I learned amazing things and it made my life better. I got to serve people and learn about another place and it gave me empathy and changed my world-view.

Yet at the convention Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin felt it neccessary to deride Barack Obama's time, three years, of service. John McCain's very real service to country is laudable Obama's service to the poor in Chicago is laughable to Palin and Giuliani.

• Are we to dismiss the work of Peace Corp and Americorp volunteers?
• Are we to dismiss people who work with the poor or the homeless?
• Is being a volunteer or community organizer less than say being a lawyer or politician in a small town?

The reason they hate 'community organizing' is because they do not like what happens when it succeeds. If you look at the greatest community organizers in our nation's history they are all hated by people of Palen/Giuliani ilk. In our own Chicago you had people like Jane Addams whose organizing work challenged the exploitation of immigrants. In California Cesar Chavez challenged the exploitation of farm workers. In New York Dorothy Day challenged the materialism of our nation and housed the homeless and clothed the naked. Most spectacularly Martin Luther King changed a nation- organizing people against evil. These people changed society in ways that the people on the floor of the GOP convention resent and they made that very clear this week.

These are all people hated by the Bush-McCain-Palin party because they lift the curtain on who they really care about- the powerful and the in power. The most important thing about the GOP week is not that he nominated a woman or that Mc Cain is a hero- the most important thing is that the Republicans do not believe that people- ordinary people have a right to change the world- that is best left to 'heros' like Giuliani & Palin

A Note from Obama's "Cosmopolitan" Home

So now we know.

• Being the mayor of a small town is more impressive than giving three years of your life as a virtual volunteer when you could be making millions. Being a state senator for 10 years is worth less than being governor for 1.5 years and a BA from Idaho is worth less than a JD from Harvard.
• Now we know that as Rudy Giuliani put it Barack Obama is a "Cosmopolitan" which was word used by the Nazis to describe Jews in the 1930's. I guess his New York values dont fit this world do they?
• The desire of the American people to not be bankrupted by insurance company's profits with some sort of universal healthcare is Socialism.
• The war in Iraq is about 'victory' . Not waste and corruption.
• The Democrats chose not to demonize Muslims by not using the term "Radical Islamic Extremism" but did speak about terrorism- this makes them weak losers.
• We also know that all the terrible things perpetrated by the Bush administration over the past 8 years do not matter because the real reformers are Sarah Palin and John McCain both of whom have been in power for the past 8 years with George W Bush.

Are they kidding?

Are people so narrowminded that they believe that the enemy is 'Big Government'. After Katrina, the Iraq war, Mortgage Crisis, and spiraling healthcare costs the problem is 'big government'?

If small town values mean that we choose to be ignorant of the facts then I hope the "Cosmopolitans" win because we cannot take anymore of this lunacy.

Is the answer to the challenge of China to teach Creationism in our schools? Or to demonize old gay couples that want to go the hospital or buy homes?

The Republicans demonize government so they can steal more from it for their corporate friends just look at the Iraq war, Katrina and the Mortgage Crisis... the American people suffered and the Republican's friends got rich-- who are the reformers?

Just Think About Today

Hatred and Discrimination has always been a part of the American Experience. Bigotry against Catholics, Irish, Italians, Hispanics, Women, Gays, Jews and many others is a large part of our heritage.

No bigotry however is deeper than the trials of African Americans, just say the names- Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T Washington, Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Marian Anderson, Jesse Owens, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King. Think of their struggles think of the fire hoses, the lynchings, the middle passage... and then think about today.

A black man is the Democratic Nominee...

On this day the anniversary of the I Have a Dream Speech a Black man will be the nominee of the Democratic party. This black man's name was put in nomination by the son of Richard J Daley and he was hailed by the party of Jefferson and Jackson. We all sit in a new world a world were being American includes everyone.

Just let all of this sink in- and don't let those who would diminish it say anything...

Gen X Rising

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12763.html

In a post on the Politico it is argued that Barack Obama is the first GenX presidential candidate. Those of us who fit into that generation do not receive the press of our Baby Boomer parents. We have lived of course within the Baby Boomer Psychodrama for our entire lives. It was our role to be the Children who watched the the 1970's from our cribs and playgrounds. It has been our role to dwell with the shadow of 'their' great history and slide along quietly while watching our younger Millennial brothers and sisters take over the world we are the ultimate sandwich generation born during a terrible war and formed during the narcissism of the Baby Boomers perpetual youth.

This is true in Poetry as well as we well know. The fact that we still hark back to debates and arguments between Language poets and the fact that many of the arbiters of poetic taste are boomers lets those of us who are GenX know where we fit into the culture.

Barack Obama embodies our generation. A child of divorce, abandonment and parental narcissism he rose above all that to become confident and to give back in a quiet way. It was in many ways harder to make a difference in the 1970's and 1980's and Barack did that. But in the end those of us born between 1961 and 1980 have a champion and a candidate.

It is fitting that the two baby boomer presidents- Bush and Clinton spent years arguing about their generations' issues. It is now our time- and we have our candidate.

Why are Democrats Such Wimps?

Why are Democrats such wimps?
Why is is that Democrats cannot hit back hard and make the Republicans feel it?

As we speak the Republicans are tearing Barack Obama apart and the perceptions are being placed in people's minds and the Democrats are not fighting back.

I have to say that as a person who began his political life on the Right but whose opinions have changed over time the one thing that I miss about the Republicans is their taste for the jugular.
Forget about feelings or respect the Republicans care about winning and by any means neccessary- maybe the Democrats should learn this lesson?

It has been at least 40 years since the Democrats have punched back against the Republicans in an effective way. (Lyndon Johnson, JFK, before him Harry Truman and FDR). The Democrats have allowed themselves to be marginalized because they have not fought for legitimate issues. When John McCain attacks Barack Obama's moderate stand on taxes as 'tax and spend' why can't the Democrats punch back hard really addressing the issue that the Republicans and their big business friends have been making war on the Middle Class for the past 40 years and this has to change if we are to survive as a nation?

I find it so refreshing to watch a Michael Moore movie because he at least punches back and says the truth about Trade, Racism, Healthcare, War and Guns. Why is it that the Democrats cannot punch back hard and also take the character issues to them? John McCain is a war hero but he is also a product of the Republican lie machine.

This new book about Obama is being edited by Mary Matalin- James Carville's wife. Why are not Democrats protesting in front of their house in New Orleans? Why is Carville allowed to collect the money from the book's sales (Since he is married to Matalin) and why isnt Matalin expected to respond to the lies she edited? Republicans would do this to a Democratic editor. because the Democrats do not have a taste for blood.

John McCain, has a very mixed record on morality and I think his family's morals are more UnAmerican than anything Michelle or Barack Obama has done or said.

• He cheated on his first wife while she was in the hospital- divorcing her for his current wife.
• His current wife Cindy is the daughter of one of the richest men in America but she could not see fit to give any money to her 1/2 sister- who recieved a paltry $10,000 from her father's estate while she recieved millions. Then she proceeded to tell people she is an only child.
• John McCain has repeatedly voted against benefits for our veterans he is part of the cause of what happened at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

John McCain, has a very mixed record on the economy.

• He has supported right to work laws which have resulted in the destruction of our industrial wagebase making cities throughout the nation Ghosttowns. Why is this not an issue?
• He also has supported unsustainable water programs that have caused sprawl development in the Southwest that will in the end need to be bailed out by the Federal Government.
• He first opposed and now supports the Bush tax cuts why is this not an issue?
• He favors taxing health benefits that people now recieve at work. Imagine the cost of this program to the average worker?
• He favors retaining the Bush tax cuts so that we can never pay off the huge debt we have incurred about the Iraq war.
• He wants to throw all American workers into the private healthcare market- thus taking away healthcare for anyone who is sick or has a pre-existing condition.

John McCain's record on the War is Clear

• He wants to defeat evil- everywhere which means more wars not less.
• The surge has been effective- but it is not permanent how do we deal with the fact that Iran is now more powerful because of Mc Cain's positions?
• He first opposed and then supported Torture.

I think that Barack Obama- my candidate-- needs to spend the week with Keith Olbermann of MSNBC. He needs to hit Obama the way Olbermann hits back and he needs to do it squarely in McCain's jaw- and show people the truth.

If he does this 2008 should be a landslide for change and an end to Wimp Democrats. Oh if it was just possible to hear Karl Rove squeal??

August

This is the worst time of the year to be an American. Knowing what I know- that all Italians are at the beach or in the mountains and that they have 30 days of time off it is a sad time to be American with our frenetic lives.

The truth is that our standard of living in the USA is so twisted by our lack of time. It makes us fatter, more stressed and weaker but at least we have the pennant races...

Why Chinese Oppression Matters

http://www.penpoemrelay.org/chinese-writers-in-prison

WANG Xiaoning
Sentence: 10 years in prison plus 2 years deprivation of political rights
Internet writer and dissident, arrested on September 1, 2002 and charged with subversion for articles published online between 2000 and 2002. Wang was sentenced to ten years in prison and two years’ deprivation of political rights on July 25, 2003 after Yahoo! supplied his user information to Chinese authorities. He is currently being held in Beijing No. 2 Prison and has reportedly been tortured.

This is the bio from the Pen Site of just one prisoner of honesty in China. As the Olympics begin today I am thinking only about my friend Mr Shen who is in prison for simply praying an unauthorized rosary in China. As we begin the games it is important to realize that in China poets and writers are doing what we are supposed to do- being prophetic.

Italian Poetry "joyous puzzlement"

http://www.litmuspress.org/pages/aufgabe7.html

I am not unbiased about Aufgabe Magazine- as a way of disclaimer I was the guest editor on Aufgabe 6 and I edited the Brazil Section so I am invested in the journal. If this level of intimacy bothers you click out and don't read my comments.

Aufgabe is a magazine that has noble pretensions. Apart from Circumference and Mandorla few magazines in the United States have any interest in the world of poetry or prose outside of our shores- Aufgabe is a breath of fresh global air.

Aufgabe 7 Featuring a section on Emerging Italian writing is the best issue yet produced. I am going to concentrate in this blogpost on the Italian section mostly because I find it so interesting. The section is edited by Jennifer Scappettone, a professor at our own University of Chicago and a fine poet in her own right. While Jen's poetry can be interesting her work here in Aufgabe is really unique and important.

In her opening essay she uses the term "Joyous Puzzlement" but it is clear in her essay that that puzzlement has led to recognition of a poetry that is at best unknown in the United States. Scappettone has created for contemporary experimental Italian poetry a context that perhaps will lead to presses translating these fine works and exposing them to the poetic class in this country and also among the English Speaking peoples. Perhaps one of the things to come out of Scappettone's work will be a renewed dialogue among the poets of the Italian diaspora in the Americas- of which Scappettone and myself are a part- and Italian innovative poets whose work does not get the pages it should in its home country?

Scappettone's editorial choices are really interesting- she has older poets like Andrea Zanzotto who represents a profound localism and the use of dialects and also Amelia Rosselli, who ranks with the greatest poets of the 20th century in any language. Scappettone also includes postmodernists like Gherardo Bortolotti and Marco Giovenale whose work would be winning prizes and plaudits if it were published in the United States for its exciting innovation.

The issue as a whole gives the reader a taste of what is going on in Italy and for those of us who read Italian it is a pleasure to see the beautiful language played out in its original and in its English translation on the page. Most American poets know nothing about Italian or any other global poetics I hope that I can shame them into buying this magazine expanding their minds a bit?

The Poetry section of Aufgabe 7 is reliably interesting.

There are new poems by Sarah Mangold and Jennifer Chapis along with two poems by the late kari edwards which makes one want to morn more for her loss. There is real depth in this section and it is a good introduction what is happening poetically in allot of place. The review section has some interesting stuff include a review of Kenning Editions publication of Hannah Weiner's open house which Patrick Durgin edited. If you don't have this Weiner book then shame on you. There is also an essay by Danish poet Pia Tafdrup on the Medellin poetry conference that is illuminating.

More often than not poets in the USA do not read enough- if you need a book for the beach this summer or to read on the train- Aufgabe 7 gives you the reason to stop watching baseball for a little while and read something filled with joyous puzzlement.

Immediate Empire an Intimate Collaboration

I got an email from Catherine Daly of I.E. Press, my publisher, that the new book that I authored with Waltraud Haas is coming out. This is very exciting but the process of creating this book was interesting and at time very tough in an intimate way.

Most poets are lone wolves. They create alone and they process alone and they work alone. Immediate Empire is a collaboration. Waltraud Haas is my wife and life partner but we have not collaborated before artistically except on book covers so working on this together was an experience because Waltraud is also a solitary in her art so where the nexus occured makes the book all that more intimate and for me as a poet interesting.

I wrote Immediate Empire from 2003-2005 and it is based around some themes. One of those is Leni Reifenstahl and Fascist collaboration. I have always found Fascist/Nazi intellectuals fascinating. Heidegger, Celine, Marinetti, Pound, Nolde and Reifenstahl were artists of the highest order and unlike most of their friends and colleagues they chose to believe in Fascism or Nazism. What possessed these keen intellects to believe these evils? Normally intellectuals who believe in Marxism get a free pass (Which is Unfortunate since Marxism is simply a different form of Totalitarianism and is equally murderous) but those who believed in Fascism become pariahs. I am fascinated however in the parallels to Fascism and Nazism that exist today in our world and how ready we are to believe the big lie.

Immediate Empire in its poetry is about this- but the visual art is something else. Waltraud chose to create a series of paintings called Origens. These are not synthetic works like my poems but organic works. The paintings come from Traudi's sense of art as sucher rather than razorblade. It was quite a challenge to fuse these two things into one and I proud we could do it in many ways it is a homage to our whole relationship over the past 12 years.

Traudi's paintings are really something and we are hoping to find a gallery here in Chicago to be able to bring Immediate Empire alive with poetry and art in one spot.