Erica's Blog

Damien Hirst, Part 2

If I ever complain about my students, please remind me of the day (today) that one of my classes discussed their voluntary trek to the Met to see Damien Hirst's shark because I had been cajoling them to go. I cajole a lot to no avail, so this is a development. Or "shark" drew them in. Not only did they visit Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, one student also brought me a flyer from the Lever House, which is exhibiting Hirst's work until February of next year. International Herald Tribune writer Carol Vogel referred to the exhibit as "a veritable Noah's Ark of roadkill." I think that means it's not for the faint of heart, but I'll be venturing across town anyway, smelling salts in hand.

"School: The Archaeology of Lost Desires, Comprehending Infinity, and the Search for Knowledge" at the Lever House, 390 Park Ave., Free admission.

Damien Hirst, Part 1 (Sharks Have Everything to Do with Poetry)

Nicholas Lezard Reviews John Ashbery

Ashbery's new selected, Notes from the Air, is reviewed HERE by Nicholas Lezard.

I read Notes from the Air in a weekend, which is not the best approach to Ashbery's work. But this collection is elusive and addictive, always one step ahead. Or five. I more enjoyed skimming it a second time on Thursday's train ride to Beacon, NY. Dipping in and out, lingering on particular lines. Lezard quotes "April Galleons" and its "scraps / Of meaning." He also quotes T.S. Eliot and gestures to Geoffrey Hill: "public toilets have a duty to be accessible, poetry does not."

Herzog

Anecdotes about filmmaker Werner Herzog are fun to bandy around—hauling ships over mountains, etc. The Herzog in this Guardian interview is genteel, but there's still a juicy bit about maggots:
Guardian interview with Werner Herzog

Tina Chang and Ravi Shankar

Read LIVE tomorrow night, Thursday November 15th, on From the Fishouse, HERE at 7:30pm.

For recent Tina Chang poems, check out the latest issue of Guernica with Guest Poetry Editor Tracy K. Smith.

Poets Paolo Javier and Tim Peterson

Perform LIVE at 9:30pm tomorrow, Wednesday November 14th, HERE on Performa TV.

They will be helped by artists Emmy Catedral, Ernest Concepcion, and Mike Estabrook.

Because I Haven't Advertised in Awhile

This one's called "Little Red," which is neither a reference to the fairytale blonde nor to "Detroit Red." She's very outgoing and affectionate. I couldn't get a picture of her alone because she kept crawling into volunteers' laps.

For more cats and kittens that need homes, go HERE.

Kent Johnson's 33 Rules of Poetry

HERE

So what if they're technically for poets 23 and under? As a teaser, # 11: "Remember that the greater part of it is merely show and acquired manners. Poets can be mean, and they will try to kill you."

In the same issue of Almost Island, you can find George Szirtes prose poems.

I find this remarkable online journal a bit difficult to navigate and am more likely to stumble on content rather than get there by design. However, what I stumble on is usually worth the detour.

Small Spiral Notebook Swan Song

I can't pretend to keep up with all the worthy literary journals out there, but I've always found the quality of Small Spiral Notebook to be first-rate. I was therefore disappointed to learn tonight via the quarterly newsletter that December 31st will be the journal's last day. Since the lifespan of literary journals is more akin to dog than human, I suppose six years is a decent run. And Editor Felicia Sullivan assures us that the journal will remain online indefinitely. I suggest to the ether that she also archive the print versions, which have included poems from Terese Svoboda, Priscilla Becker, and Idra Novey among others.

Interview with Robert Pinsky

Gibson Fay-LeBlanc interviews Robert Pinsky for Guernica, HERE

Teaser: "I’m disgusted by dumbing-down, complacency, an attempt to reach back to some false good old days before modernism. This is not an 'aesthetic' response for me, not a matter of 'poetics': given modernism’s relation to the stresses and ambitions of the modern world, an effort to turn back the clock, to be reassuring formally and morally, is repellent."

New Poems at Guernica

Guest Poetry Editor Tracy K. Smith introduces poems by

Terrance Hayes
Cynthia Cruz
Sean Singer
Kyle Booten
Aaron Smith
David Semanki
and Tina Chang

Enjoy!