tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post706728630554114621..comments2024-01-11T07:18:07.398-05:00Comments on PoemTalk (episodes 1-41): psycho-acoustics (PoemTalk #17)Al Filreishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17361573484797020525noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-36912668479107220072009-06-03T00:19:45.068-04:002009-06-03T00:19:45.068-04:00Quite a remarkable poem-- sticks in the brain like...Quite a remarkable poem-- sticks in the brain like a burr-- and this program really opened it up for me in a very powerful and compelling way. (Though interestingly I had points of disagreement with each of the individual respondents.)<br /><br />Also interestingly, while this poem claims to have been infected with the sound of "Pyongyang", it also performs the reverse function: I cannot now read Pyongyang in the newspaper without hearing this poem.<br /><br />Regarding (what I have heard is) Toscano's working class, Chicano, autodidact background: it's true we shouldn't ignore it, but we should also guard against a glib/reductive assuming or attributing of "what comes from where". My sense is that Toscano's background/life trajectory probably influences this poem, and all his work, in profound but oblique ways, by shaping his quirky, unique and sometimes estranging relationship to language. (Bi/multi-lingualism itself is part of the estrangement that enters here.) In other words, it is his *perspective* and not his identity that has a bearing on this poem...? Some would say that's the same thing, but...equivocalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00408199156528969347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-42193124174723592822009-05-17T21:14:00.000-04:002009-05-17T21:14:00.000-04:00Al, thanks for responding. Just a thought, just a ...Al, thanks for responding. Just a thought, just a listen: the pinging sonics that are redolent of culture clash—Mexican mestizaje and pomo have some things in common. With Chicanos, there are even more ingredients tossed into the mix. There’s the intriguing “Quetzalcoatl…feathers falling…field’s been recharged”<br />stretch. And then there’s the familiar goofy humor.Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18275245278777950205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-24939818188130163042009-05-14T20:34:00.000-04:002009-05-14T20:34:00.000-04:00a jam is a jam, even with folks who can't jam, but...a jam is a jam, even with folks who can't jam, but keep failing to jam, locality and psyche not in rhythm, but for soemone who makes the imperfect perfect and imperfect again -- in walked anyone who wasn't there before --the poetics as such, an ubiquitous human dilemma of who we are on a 'platform' without foundation (perhaps), without politics meaning more than everything you waht you improvise or fake...joebanfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10861885895091986825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-86640817857744632802009-05-14T10:56:00.000-04:002009-05-14T10:56:00.000-04:00Hi Al,
I just had this exchange with Eiríkur Örn ...Hi Al,<br /><br />I just had this exchange with Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl:<br /><br /><br />Hey Linh.<br /><br />Heard you on poemtalk. It was good. You hit home on several points--especially the political bits and the jangly bits, the song of the poem. I missed someone bringing up the "old" european avant-garde, and the political motives behind this ripped apart language--and a discussion on the political motives behind using charged political words (which is of course something I do alot, in the dictator-sound-poems etc.--and I recognized a similar thing at play in Rodrigo, although perhaps that's just my vainglory).<br /><br />As with the blogging about poetry vs. blogging about politics, I've mostly fallen on the other side of that pit--Icelandic blogs are so much about politics, so much information and misinformation, rants and nonsense, that I ended up distancing myself from it more than is good for me. I'll probably get back on the horse though. When I feel something can be said that doesn't just fall through the cracks and get forgotten about.<br /><br />Anyways--just thought I'd write and say cheers for the program.<br /><br />all the best,<br /><br /><br />Eiríkur<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yo Eiríkur,<br /><br />Your dictator poems are different than this Toscano. By <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq8bAKZNl7U&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwwwwsonneteighteencom.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embedded" REL="nofollow">riffing</A> on an iconic mass murderer's name, you emphasize its sonic qualities while ignoring the evil connotations. It's a comically nihilistic gesture. Toscano, on the other hand, seems to be making a polemic by mentioning Pyongyang, Thatcher and the European Union, but his syllogistic sequence leads nowhere. In that sense, and in this poem at least, he is more nihilistic than you!<br /><br /><br />LinhLinh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-15078432600518928622009-05-14T10:45:00.000-04:002009-05-14T10:45:00.000-04:00Fred, I think you're right about that omission. I ...Fred, I think you're right about that omission. I remember not knowing how to find the mark of its relevance. Where would you find it or remark on it? - AlAl Filreishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17361573484797020525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-13287775150608767812009-05-13T21:51:00.000-04:002009-05-13T21:51:00.000-04:00I love this show and, as always, I enjoyed the dis...I love this show and, as always, I enjoyed the discussion. But it seemed like there was an elephant in the room--Toscano is a Chicano--it was if no one wanted to incorporate that into the talk. Or am I only saying this because I listened to the discussion through my Mexican-American ears?Fredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18275245278777950205noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990892400523747815.post-52939602679960414042009-05-13T12:04:00.000-04:002009-05-13T12:04:00.000-04:00"poetics" combines the life outside and inside of ..."poetics" combines the life outside and inside of everyone's kitchen, living room, bedroom or favorite side to be on, even invisibly so, jazz music and the spit you swap, an unread book or a book unwritten, takes you where you need to go, or not, like language itself, situational and do what you must, to thy own self, enough already...this side of the Delaware river, this desolate rooftop resonating rain drizzle...joebanfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10861885895091986825noreply@blogger.com