Thursday, February 26, 2009

Week 9: Bernadette Mayer

On Monday, we'll begin our unit on Bernadette Mayer, who, as we mentioned in the last class, serves as a bridge of sorts between the Second Generation New York School aesthetics, and Language poetry (or, to some, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, after the influential journal, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E). In her early work, especially, you'll see a far greater experimental and conceptual component than many of the folks we've read recently (and skip through some of the poems that aren't assigned to see even more esoteric works). Be sure to take a look at PennSound's Bernadette Mayer author page as well: though there aren't many recordings to go with these poems, there are a few, and Charles Bernstein's Close Listening interview with Mayer is particularly interesting. I'll post some links and other materials next week.


Monday, March 2nd:

from Poetry and early poems:
  • Corn (6)
  • Index (8)
  • Thick (13)
  • Poem (14)
  • Swan Silvertones (17)
  • America (19)
  • It Moves Across (24)
  • Sonnet: "name address date" (26)
  • The Way to Keep Going in Antarctica (32)
from The Golden Book of Words
  • Lookin Like Areas of Kansas (49)
  • Essay (51)
  • Carlton Fisk is My Ideal (53)
  • What Babies Really Do (57)
  • Instability (Weather) (60)


Wednesday, March 4th:

from Studying Hunger (42)

from Midwinter Day (63)

from Mutual Aid
  • A Woman I Mix Men Up . . . (81)
from Sonnets
  • Sonnet: "Love is a babe . . ." (87)
  • Sonnet: "It would be nice . . ." (88)
  • Sonnet: "I am supposed to think . . ." (90)
  • Sonnet: "You jerk you didn't call me . . ." (93)
  • Incidents Report Sonnet (97)
  • Incidents Report Sonnet #2 (98)
  • Incidents Report Sonnet #5 (99)
  • Sonnet: "Beauty of songs . . ." (103)
  • Incandescent War Poem Sonnet (104)


Friday, March 6th:

New Poems:
  • The Incorporation of Sophia's Cereal (118)
  • Ode on (120)
  • I Wish You Were Up Late, Gerard (130)
  • Sonnet: "a tiny little poem . . ." (134)
  • Failure in Infinitives (139)
  • Marie Makes Fun of Me at the Shore (147)
(on Friday, we'll also start with the work of Anne Waldman, readings to be posted next week)

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