I'm at the library listening to Rae Armantrout on Boston's NPR station, WBUR, on the show OnPoint. The interview occurred this AM so I'm listening to the recording.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/05/poet-rae-armantrout?autostart=true
Rae Armantrout's book "Versed" won the 2010 Pulizter Prize.
http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Poetry
Which was a bit of a surprise, not because it didn't deserve the high honor. Armantrout is one of the best poets alive today. But because "Language"/ avant garde/ experimental poetry doesn't seem to be revered and/or acknowledged by the Literary Big Brother. However, on the heels of Keith Waldrop's National Book Award win, I guess we should start opening up to the idea that the good stuff is deemed good to more than just a smallish group of people... (Maybe I've been hearing this, "they're on the fringes and unrecognized" thing for so long, I started to believe it...especially after my grad program, which is very "mainstream" oriented. Of course "fringe" and "mainstream" and "Language" and "blah blah blah whatever" all have to be in quotes because people are averse to labels. Allergic reaction, hives, welts on the face -- that's what happens when you sling around the dread labels.)
Alrighty, so back the topic...so far this interview is absolutely delightful [update: it's absoutely delightful the whole through; it's the anti-Candace Bushnell interview*] and I'm loving it. Rae Armantrout is neat-o. A while back I linked to an interview with her at PennSound that I must have listened to at least a half dozen times. It was thought provoking (even if that term is overused) and inspiring (also tired, but also true).
More Rae Armantrout links I like:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-lydon/pulitzer-poet-rae-armantr_b_582301.html
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/armantrout/poetics.html
*Candace Bushnell, author of the original "Sex and the City" column, upon which the TV series then the movies were based, was on a major coke binge/ had raging PMS/ was having a manic dpressive episode and/or is just a demon disguised in Prada or something like that, because she was brutal on OnPoint. I still love SATC, though.
http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/05/poet-rae-armantrout?autostart=true
Rae Armantrout's book "Versed" won the 2010 Pulizter Prize.
http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2010-Poetry
Which was a bit of a surprise, not because it didn't deserve the high honor. Armantrout is one of the best poets alive today. But because "Language"/ avant garde/ experimental poetry doesn't seem to be revered and/or acknowledged by the Literary Big Brother. However, on the heels of Keith Waldrop's National Book Award win, I guess we should start opening up to the idea that the good stuff is deemed good to more than just a smallish group of people... (Maybe I've been hearing this, "they're on the fringes and unrecognized" thing for so long, I started to believe it...especially after my grad program, which is very "mainstream" oriented. Of course "fringe" and "mainstream" and "Language" and "blah blah blah whatever" all have to be in quotes because people are averse to labels. Allergic reaction, hives, welts on the face -- that's what happens when you sling around the dread labels.)
Alrighty, so back the topic...so far this interview is absolutely delightful [update: it's absoutely delightful the whole through; it's the anti-Candace Bushnell interview*] and I'm loving it. Rae Armantrout is neat-o. A while back I linked to an interview with her at PennSound that I must have listened to at least a half dozen times. It was thought provoking (even if that term is overused) and inspiring (also tired, but also true).
More Rae Armantrout links I like:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-lydon/pulitzer-poet-rae-armantr_b_582301.html
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/armantrout/poetics.html
*Candace Bushnell, author of the original "Sex and the City" column, upon which the TV series then the movies were based, was on a major coke binge/ had raging PMS/ was having a manic dpressive episode and/or is just a demon disguised in Prada or something like that, because she was brutal on OnPoint. I still love SATC, though.