Kazim Ali's The Fortieth Day
I review Kazim Ali's new collection for ForeWord Magazine, HERE.
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When I first saw The Gap ad in the New Yorker, I thought the artists (some of whom I quite like such as Kiki Smith) had designed t-shirts for various charities. But after closer inspection of the ads and a visit to the website to confirm my suspicions, it seems these artists have designed t-shirts solely for their own and The Gap's profits. SEE PRODUCTS HERE.
I expressed my dismay to a friend who all but yawned. Apparently (I hadn't heard!), that's what artists do these days. And, really, why am I happy for an artist selling her paintings, but irritated at her for selling t-shirts? Or (a better comparison) posters? This is an easy way for the artists to promote themselves. Shoppers who would have otherwise never heard of these artists may seek out their other work.
Side note: Are fashion designers angry that sculptors, et al. are essentially claiming this fashion stuff is easy? Like when rock stars pen books of poems.
I do enjoy the irony of Rirkrit Tiravanija's t-shirt, which reads, "The days of this society is numbered." I wonder how quickly this one is flying off the shelves at small-town malls. And maybe I'm just jealous that poets can't sell out (or at least not as easily), although I'm already forming a list of poets who would make great Gap ad models. Frederick Seidel's t-shirt could read "I spend most of my time not dying," accompanied by that cover portrait on Ooga-Booga.
Linh Dinh recently started blogging for the Poetry Foundation. This week, his comments about student poems are particularly insightful:
"If even amateurs can pen a few decent poems, why are there so many lame ones? Because, frankly, too many poems are willed into being by poets who are emotionally numb or beaten down by the ugly business of living."
This sentiment works in contrast to the idea that the best literature is produced under oppressive regimes, a notion often tossed around and heard most recently from Mario Vargos Llosa at a PEN World Voices event. But I don't think one idea necessarily excludes the other.
Read Dinh's whole post, HERE.
Guernica just published a new poem by James Galvin, "The Stagnation." You can read it HERE.
Guernica just published two brilliant poems by Sarah Messer, author of Bandit Letters and Red House. Check out "American Familiar" and "Stump Speech," HERE.
Teaser: "It’s true I slept with Abe Lincoln. / I now know everything there is to know about this country. / Believe me, I carry a tapeworm for you the size of Kentucky."
