really boring e-mail interview which didn't make the deadline --
I woke up this morning realizing that this would have been a perfect opprtunity to show that my courses came out of my opinions about writing
I read Charles Bernstein's A Poetics before I read any of his
other work; it was published when I was in New York working on my MFA,
and it was an eye opener for me. The workshop leader I found most
helpful -- who recommended that book -- was Ann Lauterbach. She also
introduced me to Temblor, the New York School writers and to Sun
& Moon Press: she simply listed -- verbally -- writers she guessed
might interest each of us, based upon the work we were doing. That's a
method I've tried to make a little bit more useful by recommending or
loaning individual books, writing out author lists for workshoppers,
links, etc.
I moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan with my now-husband, writer Ron
Burch, in 1996. He is a language-oriented playwright who writes
screenplays (and fiction). When we moved to LA, I moved a lot of my
social interaction online to join my work; I joined the SUNY BFLO
Poetics listserv which Charles Bernstein founded, and the WOM-PO
Women's poetry list which Annie Finch founded from the Poetics listserv.
Sun & Moon Press is the non-profit press, Green Integer, the for-profit
press, edited by Douglas Messerli. The press is arguably the most
well-known one (especially internationally) publishing innovative
writing, especially language-oriented writing, and very especially
language-oriented writing including and "after" that of the New York
School. Douglas has published many of Charles Bernstein's books. I
lived across the street from Sun & Moon / Green Integer in Los Angeles
for about seven years, and lived for another two years around the
corner from it. All of our fattest silverfish come from books,
including Dark City and Republics of Reality, that I
purchased from the "bargain bin" at the old Sun & Moon. I used to go
to the ATM for cash to buy as many books as I could carry about once a
month. There were readings there (I heard Bernstein read / perform a
libretto at the Salon for its publication) or at LACMA (The LA County
Museum of Art, also near Green Integer).
They way I generally come to something is from the outside, reinventing
the wheel. I didn't go to any special school; I worked on Wall Street,
on the orbiter, for the studios. I chose my undergrad college because
it was the largest open curriculum school that gave me tuition. I went
to Columbia because I wanted to live in New York. I don't have a PhD.
Yet, Toby Olson, a very early supporter of Sun & Moon, Green Integer,
and Douglas Messerli editing adventures in general -- since they taught
at Temple University in Phiadelphia together -- is my cousin. We
always had his books in the house when I was growing up, and I was
always trying to figure them out.
I started submitting for publication in 1985, with the 1986 POET'S
MARKET. Half the journals in it had something in their listing about
not wanting L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing. Obviously, this was intriguing.
*
I titled my reading, rather too late for the posters, "Song, Sung
Through." I use sound, music, and the musicality of language in many
different ways, and wanted to offer that particular tour through my
work. My new book, Vauxhall, will still be at the printers during the
reading, but should finally be out before the end of the term. I spent
too much time proofing it. In any case, the title, which is a classic
British car built in a part of London that used to be a pleasure gardem
which used to be called "Fox's Hill" -- but sounds like "voice hall" --
is up my alley.
Members of the chapbook collective and writing collective are reading
Saturday afternoon, because I felt it was appropriate to honor the
writers who are writing "under their own steam" rather than for class,
and because it has more of a -- though peaceful -- guerilla writing
quality. I could go on and on, but there will be free printed ephemera
and maybe even gizmos.
I woke up this morning realizing that this would have been a perfect opprtunity to show that my courses came out of my opinions about writing
I read Charles Bernstein's A Poetics before I read any of his
other work; it was published when I was in New York working on my MFA,
and it was an eye opener for me. The workshop leader I found most
helpful -- who recommended that book -- was Ann Lauterbach. She also
introduced me to Temblor, the New York School writers and to Sun
& Moon Press: she simply listed -- verbally -- writers she guessed
might interest each of us, based upon the work we were doing. That's a
method I've tried to make a little bit more useful by recommending or
loaning individual books, writing out author lists for workshoppers,
links, etc.
I moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan with my now-husband, writer Ron
Burch, in 1996. He is a language-oriented playwright who writes
screenplays (and fiction). When we moved to LA, I moved a lot of my
social interaction online to join my work; I joined the SUNY BFLO
Poetics listserv which Charles Bernstein founded, and the WOM-PO
Women's poetry list which Annie Finch founded from the Poetics listserv.
Sun & Moon Press is the non-profit press, Green Integer, the for-profit
press, edited by Douglas Messerli. The press is arguably the most
well-known one (especially internationally) publishing innovative
writing, especially language-oriented writing, and very especially
language-oriented writing including and "after" that of the New York
School. Douglas has published many of Charles Bernstein's books. I
lived across the street from Sun & Moon / Green Integer in Los Angeles
for about seven years, and lived for another two years around the
corner from it. All of our fattest silverfish come from books,
including Dark City and Republics of Reality, that I
purchased from the "bargain bin" at the old Sun & Moon. I used to go
to the ATM for cash to buy as many books as I could carry about once a
month. There were readings there (I heard Bernstein read / perform a
libretto at the Salon for its publication) or at LACMA (The LA County
Museum of Art, also near Green Integer).
They way I generally come to something is from the outside, reinventing
the wheel. I didn't go to any special school; I worked on Wall Street,
on the orbiter, for the studios. I chose my undergrad college because
it was the largest open curriculum school that gave me tuition. I went
to Columbia because I wanted to live in New York. I don't have a PhD.
Yet, Toby Olson, a very early supporter of Sun & Moon, Green Integer,
and Douglas Messerli editing adventures in general -- since they taught
at Temple University in Phiadelphia together -- is my cousin. We
always had his books in the house when I was growing up, and I was
always trying to figure them out.
I started submitting for publication in 1985, with the 1986 POET'S
MARKET. Half the journals in it had something in their listing about
not wanting L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing. Obviously, this was intriguing.
*
I titled my reading, rather too late for the posters, "Song, Sung
Through." I use sound, music, and the musicality of language in many
different ways, and wanted to offer that particular tour through my
work. My new book, Vauxhall, will still be at the printers during the
reading, but should finally be out before the end of the term. I spent
too much time proofing it. In any case, the title, which is a classic
British car built in a part of London that used to be a pleasure gardem
which used to be called "Fox's Hill" -- but sounds like "voice hall" --
is up my alley.
Members of the chapbook collective and writing collective are reading
Saturday afternoon, because I felt it was appropriate to honor the
writers who are writing "under their own steam" rather than for class,
and because it has more of a -- though peaceful -- guerilla writing
quality. I could go on and on, but there will be free printed ephemera
and maybe even gizmos.
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