Monday, September 21, 2009

Kent's New Thing

Kent wants me to mention his new blog Digital Emunction.

And I'm doing so, even though he didn't read my entry on the Deep Image very carefully...

In fact there's a more interesting discussion about Jed Rasula's new book on Digital Emunction. I'm going over there right now to read it.

Also, there's a discussion of the Chicago scene of poetry that is mildly interesting, though it appears to have devolved in the comment section. It seems to me what Kent should be after is not so much a "school" of Chicago (that school already exists and it has a dubious history, especially its econ department) but a kind of description of a social dynamic. These are some of the dynamics Ray Bianchi tried to capture with his anthology City Visible a couple of years ago.

I have no roots in Chicago, but I really love the Chicago poetry world. I've given several readings there and a year and a half ago we staged the spectacle "The Widow Party" at Links Hall, which was an amazing experience; and I've been to several interesting readings and performances by others; and I've always found the crowd extremely positive and engaged. In New York I always felt like an interloper of sorts. This receptivity might just mean that I know more people in Chicago, or it might mean that Chicago has a very non-school-oriented scene. Basically I'm pro-Chicago, but dubious about School.
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3 comments:

  1. Kent Johnson1:15 PM

    Now Johannes... I'm perfectly delighted, of course, that you highlight me like that. But your post makes it sound like I requested that you do a special post on me! You know I merely asked you back-channel if you might be able to make the URL to Digital Emunction, entered in a comment some posts down, active within the comment!

    But thank you for pointing people to the blog-- which is not (another friendly correction) "my" new blog: DE is a collective blog. I'm just a guest blogger, part of the team, so to speak. The project is coordinated by Bobby Baird, former editor of the Chicago Review.

    I see Baird, in fact, has another post just now on "schools" of poetry.

    thanks,

    Kent

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  2. Johannes1:21 PM

    Kent,

    You asked me to mention it and I mentioned it. I think it's a good site. I hope people go there. I'm not sure what I did wrong.

    Johannes

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kent Johnson2:55 PM

    I DID?? Maybe someone is sending in emails for me, then.

    But you didn't do anything "wrong."

    Kent

    ReplyDelete