UPDATE: 02/16/13

For our class session on 02/19/13, please look back over the Tyrone Williams poems I posted on the blog last week. I would also like you to read the Charles Gabel poems that appear in the most recent issue of the online journal alice blue review.

In addition to the above poems, please bring O Holy Insurgency to class with you. I'd like to discuss Thursday's reading and, perhaps, a little more of her book.

Finally, I would like to remind you that, if you have not already done so, please purchase a copy of Phil Metres's Abu Ghraib Arias immediately. You can only buy the book through Flying Guillotine Press's website. Also, I uploaded a few poems from Metres's chapbook Ode to Oil as a PDF file, which we will be reading as well.

UPDATE: 02/13/13

By 9PM tonight, please email me three questions for Mary Biddinger. As discussed in class, the questions should be broad enough that they allow Biddinger to expand/expound upon your inquiries; but they should also contain references to specific poems, lines, or concepts so as to offer her concrete examples of your line of questioning. Be prepared to ask her a question during the Question-and-Answer segment after the reading.

As a reminder, our class session, which will double as Biddinger's reading, will take place in the Guilford Hall Parlor.

UPDATE: 02/09/13

For our Tuesday, February 12 class session, please read Mary Biddinger’s full-length collection of poems O Holy Insurgency (Black Lawrence Press, 2013). While reading, think about how both the book and individual poems therein engage the concepts we’ve covered in James Longenbach’s The Resistance to Poetry. Make sure you’re annotating the poems and taking notes as you read.

After finishing the collection, you will need to write a response essay that addresses how Biddinger’s poems and Longenbach’s ideas relate to one another. Choose one concept from Longenbach and focus on how it manifests itself in O Holy Insurgency. The choice of what concept you select is up to you, but make sure it’s one that appears with some frequency. I would suggest returning to Longenbach not just as a reference, but to examine how he engages, analyzes, and writes about poems on a formal level.

Responses will be 2 full pages, double spaced, and typed in 12-point Times New Roman font with one inch margins. You should properly cite from both O Holy Insurgency and The Resistance to Poetry, using MLA-format. All essays will be due at the beginning of our class session. No late assignments will be accepted.

For Wednessday, February 13 (the day after our Tuesday class session and before the reading during our Thursday session), you will need to send me an email that contains three questions for Biddinger based upon her book or our in-class discussions. Not only are writing these questions part of your grade, so is asking them after the reading.

Please email me if you have any questions. Also, please spread the word about Thursday’s reading and invite friends if you would like, as it is open to the poublic.

UPDATE: 02/06/13

For our class session on Thursday, February 06 we will discuss the poems I assigned from the previous session that we did not attended to on Tuesday. I would also like you to read the poems by Tyrone Williams at OmniVerse and Jacket. When reading these poems, think about how the engage concepts we read about in both the Longenbach book and the Gabbert article.

UPDATE: 02/01/13

For our class session on Tuesday, February 4 please read the Elisa Gabbert and Robert Archambeau essays that I've uploaded to Blackboard. Please bring hard-copies or digital versions of these essays to class so we can discuss them.

In addition to the essays, please read the poems by Sarah Green at the online journals inter|rupture and The Leveler, as well as the poems by Larissa Szporluk at the Poetry Foundation's website and Aesthetix.

UPDATE: 01/31/13

For our class session on Thursday, January 31  please read pages 84-108 in The Resistance to Poetry, which correspond to final two chapters in the book. As I mentioned in our previous class session, I want you to compose questions for Alexis and Mike based on our reading; these questions will take the place of our quiz. Below is a sample question I wrote in order to give you a sense of how I want you to develop them:

We're reading James Longenbach's The Resistance to Poetry for our course. In one of his chapters, Longenbach explores the confluence of song and story. Specifically, he champions a poetry that fosters:

a middle ground where the semantic power of language is alternately bolstered and resisted by the physical seduction of its sound—a place where we are given the freedom to take pleasure in language that we may not need full to understand. (39)

In other words, Longenbach understands the poem to be a space where story and sound both support and grate against one another. He believes, ultimately, that such a relationship produces pleasure in the reader. To this extent, I would like to know how you conceptualize the intersection of story and sound within your poetry. Do you agree or disagree with Longenbach's assessment? How do you think these different forces interact with one another? Does the relationship change from poem to poem? Has the relationship altered throughout the course of your own writing life? How so? Could you offer an example of a poem where you think you've balanced song and story well? What about an example of when one takes precedence over the other? When one of these forces does trump the other, why was it necessary for this to happen? Are there any poets or poems you enjoy that are particularly adept at writing in a language you might not understand but can still take pleasure in?

As you can see, I've not only quoted Longenbach, but contextualized the quote and offered a re-wording of it as well. Moreover, I've posed several questions that necessitate more than a simple Yes-or-No answer. Likewise, I pose multiple questions that allow for a range of directions in which the interviewee can follow. Finally, the language is clear and the subject matter specific. Please follow the above example when composing your questions. If you can also relate the question to a particular poem that we read by Mike or Alexis, that would be even better.

Furthermore, you will type out your questions and turn them in at the end of class. Below is the break down of who I want you composing questions for:

Alexander, Mateus, Ryan, Arielle, Gabby, Monica, Evan, and Jamie, I want you to create a question for Mike based upon chapter 8 (i.e. "Leaving Things Out") and a question for Alexis based upon chapter 9 (i.e. "Composed Wonder").

Angela, Nate, Sergio, Gregory, Kassie, Katie, Emily, Neil, and Ray, I want you to create a question for Alexis based upon chapter 8 (i.e. "Leaving Things Out") and a question for Mike based upon chapter 9 (i.e. "Composed Wonder").

UPDATE: 01/27/13

For our class session on Tuesday, January 29  please read pages 72-83 in The Resistance to Poetry, which correspond to chapter 7. As always, make sure you are familiar with the general concepts Longenbach develops. We will have a quiz at the beginning of our session covering this material, followed by small group and class-wide discussions.

In addition to reading the Longenbach, I would also like you to read and be familiar with the Alexis Pope poems at the online journals iO and Anti-, as well as the Mike Krutel poems at H_NGM_N and ILK. During our class session on Thursday, January 31 both Alexis and Mike will visit and read some of their poems, so please read their poems carefully and be ready to ask questions about them.