D.C. poets deliver 'Pope My Ride'
New Writing Series opened up for spring
Benjamin Costanzi
Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Style
Valentine's Day came and went with love and poetry in the air. The evening of Thursday, Feb. 14, the English Department's New Writing Series opened its spring schedule with readings from Washington D.C. based poets Rod Smith and Mel Nichols.
Nichols, a professor of digital poetry, creative writing, literature and composition at George Mason University, visited UMaine for the first time, whereas Smith, a professor of cultural studies at Towson University, last visited the NWS in the Fall of 2000.
Nichols read first, prefacing with a performance by a toy bear that sang "I Just Called to Say I Love You." She read many pieces from her collections "Day Poems" and "The Beginning of Beauty," both published by Edge Books. Her reading was marked by breathlessness, with little caesura between lines, giving them both immediacy and vitality approaching images of great beauty - "a bee suckles the cyclone of a rose's heart." At times she also ventured into the world of Flarf with pieces like "James Joyce Gone Wild," "Pope My Ride," and "Ben Franklin's Man-Boobs." Flarf, for those not familiar, is a contemporary avant-garde poetry movement, which attempts to explore ironically inappropriate language, such as bizarre arrangements of returned search phrases run through Google. It is broader than this and is described by Nichols as "dismissed language" and reconciling "discomfort and humor."
Smith's delivery was somewhat more deadpan, and his poems were sometimes aphoristic proclamations.
Interspersed was an Elmer Fudd-esque child voice, which seemed to ask obvious questions involving political frustration. Smith's approach involved coming near the limits of understanding, noting that "nonsense plays a role" in his process. Smith also works with reformulation, as in his rewriting of Ezra Pound's "Canto 97," a process he likened to the approach of painter Jasper Johns in that it reshapes classic poetic iconography. His work was also funny with its ironic Flarfiness and well-timed interjections of "true story." His most recent publication is "Deed," available on Amazon.com.
While the attendance was less than capacity, it was an engaging beginning to what looks like a great semester of writers. Next up in the series are the winners of the English department's own Grady Awards for creative fiction and poetry reading their winning entries. Participants include Rebecca Griffin, Emily Kohler, Katie Lattari, Stacia Matthews, Nicholas Mohlmann, Zachary Richards, Jenny Smick, Megan Soderberg and Clinton Spaulding. The event is Thursday, Feb. 21 at 4:30 p.m. in the Soderberg Auditorium in Jenness Hall. For more information about the writing series, visit its blog at www.nwsnews.wordpress.com.
Nichols, a professor of digital poetry, creative writing, literature and composition at George Mason University, visited UMaine for the first time, whereas Smith, a professor of cultural studies at Towson University, last visited the NWS in the Fall of 2000.
Nichols read first, prefacing with a performance by a toy bear that sang "I Just Called to Say I Love You." She read many pieces from her collections "Day Poems" and "The Beginning of Beauty," both published by Edge Books. Her reading was marked by breathlessness, with little caesura between lines, giving them both immediacy and vitality approaching images of great beauty - "a bee suckles the cyclone of a rose's heart." At times she also ventured into the world of Flarf with pieces like "James Joyce Gone Wild," "Pope My Ride," and "Ben Franklin's Man-Boobs." Flarf, for those not familiar, is a contemporary avant-garde poetry movement, which attempts to explore ironically inappropriate language, such as bizarre arrangements of returned search phrases run through Google. It is broader than this and is described by Nichols as "dismissed language" and reconciling "discomfort and humor."
Smith's delivery was somewhat more deadpan, and his poems were sometimes aphoristic proclamations.
Interspersed was an Elmer Fudd-esque child voice, which seemed to ask obvious questions involving political frustration. Smith's approach involved coming near the limits of understanding, noting that "nonsense plays a role" in his process. Smith also works with reformulation, as in his rewriting of Ezra Pound's "Canto 97," a process he likened to the approach of painter Jasper Johns in that it reshapes classic poetic iconography. His work was also funny with its ironic Flarfiness and well-timed interjections of "true story." His most recent publication is "Deed," available on Amazon.com.
While the attendance was less than capacity, it was an engaging beginning to what looks like a great semester of writers. Next up in the series are the winners of the English department's own Grady Awards for creative fiction and poetry reading their winning entries. Participants include Rebecca Griffin, Emily Kohler, Katie Lattari, Stacia Matthews, Nicholas Mohlmann, Zachary Richards, Jenny Smick, Megan Soderberg and Clinton Spaulding. The event is Thursday, Feb. 21 at 4:30 p.m. in the Soderberg Auditorium in Jenness Hall. For more information about the writing series, visit its blog at www.nwsnews.wordpress.com.
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