tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40380132008-08-11T19:32:01.579-07:00charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-86675489027357666022008-06-14T08:37:00.002-07:002008-06-14T08:42:38.129-07:00

I'm in Portland where it's getting colder today, although I see the sun peeking out. My daughter is settling in here, ready for college life in this city of the present, city of the future. Today is farmer's market time, curtain hanging time, early morning coffee time. The site for the UA Poetry Center's "Conceptual Poetry and Its Others" is now online, almost completely available in video files

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-53590002381962893642008-06-09T09:44:00.003-07:002008-06-09T10:05:36.698-07:00

I have written about Carol Watts earlier, in another post. Now my attention is called to new work by Watts in the how2journal. More stunningly sounded and worked sections, seven in the sequence titled ZETA LANDSCAPE, each 19 or 20 lines, moving in small groups of words in and through the lines, always with a sense of "beyond" — indeed the movement is both toward infinity and strongly toward "this

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-89497858474678364882008-06-07T13:19:00.003-07:002008-06-07T13:21:37.574-07:00

The physical location of Chax Press has moved 8 blocks. Change your address books online & rolodex & otherwise. The correct address is nowChax Press (& Charles Alexander & Cynthia Miller) 411 N 7th Ave B Tucson, AZ 85705-8332 USA

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-22102861991394232352008-06-07T11:13:00.002-07:002008-06-07T11:20:46.912-07:00

Would a conceptual artist's book be an "altered book"? Or a "found book"? Or perhaps a book taken from one's shelf, with only the title page altered or replaced in favor of one that credits the artist who is committing the act of appropriation? What about taking an existing book, cutting out all of the pages, printing something else on the pages over the existing print & possibly images, then

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-3328191116011353492008-06-07T11:09:00.002-07:002008-06-07T11:12:15.559-07:00

This is from Lisa Bowden of Kore Press. Please send any response to her at the email listed at the end of her invitation.hi tucson poetry friends, anyone else have a response to last weekends outrageous gathering at the Po Cent? here's an invitation to get together and talk and listen, perhaps more fully and freely, about the presentations, the potent side conversations, and any thoughts about

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-7458041156639132012008-06-06T11:26:00.002-07:002008-06-06T11:38:05.278-07:00

There are a lot of little (and some big) books around Chax Press, blank books that I have sewn as models, or in teaching book making, from time to time. Today I spotted one small Oriental side-stitched book with purple covers of what is probably Lama Li Nepalese handmade paper. The front cover had a black zigzag paper attached — not really a true zig-zag, but it had a zig-zag pattern on each side

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-17903947415820838262008-06-02T07:26:00.004-07:002008-06-02T07:36:22.030-07:00

I have seen several comments and discussions stemming from the notion of a conceptual poetry that begin with references to conceptual art. Previous to the Conceptual Poetry and Its Others symposium, I also wondered if the work of conceptual artists, particularly the privileging in much of their work of language and idea and statements about art and art context, over visual works, would be some

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-19329933455876025092008-06-02T05:17:00.004-07:002008-06-07T16:23:42.448-07:00

Another url on "Harriet" puts Kenneth Goldsmith's posts on the Conceptual Poetry and Its Others symposium together. A comment on his posts at that site feared that the symposium was engaged in canon formation. As I experienced it, nothing could be further from the truth. This was very much an opening and a questioning, with many poets engaged with poetic works ranging far from the poets present

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-67074978394985249412008-06-01T06:53:00.004-07:002008-06-07T16:26:33.820-07:00

Just a brief post-symposium note. CONCEPTUAL POETRY AND ITS OTHERS concluded yesterday evening after two and a half days of readings, by Charles Bernstein, Tracie Morris, Kenny Goldsmith, Craig Dworkin, Christian Bök, Cole Swensen, and Caroline Bergvall. Marjorie Perloff gave the keynote address and moderated two panels, including one in which I was a panelist along with Linda Reinfeld, Jesper

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-66871955389003479282007-12-08T17:12:00.000-07:002007-12-08T17:19:37.468-07:00

One of my favorite blogs is kept by Barbara Henning. Check it out for her current review of Brenda Coultas's new book, The Marvelous Bones of Time, as well as for posts on Roberto Bolano, Bill Kushner, Burt Kimmelman, and more. I've just added Barbara's blog to my list on the right (a list that needs more additions and much editing, but that will come). Barbara has been an integral and most

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-73586661078860859762007-11-20T16:04:00.000-07:002007-11-20T16:13:37.617-07:00

hedge crickets in hedge rows sing hedge songs while we hedge our bets against whatever hedges are hardly hedges in a race hedged against authenticity forgotten lamentations of forgotten moments that caused a certain sadness now forgotten amid edges of skies and seas whose waves we have forgotten can you see me why are you looking where are you looking why not look up an old address or down the

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-11498640871205600382007-11-18T12:43:00.001-07:002007-11-18T12:56:51.168-07:00

JOHN KEATS The Eve of St. Agnes Ode on a Nightingale Autumn For a reading group. Enjoying these so much, particularly St. Agnes and Autumn. Incorporating them into current teaching, too. MAUREEN OWEN Erosion's Pull Heard Maureen read much from this book last night. Spinning out and in, delightful. YI-FU TUAN Escapism Is all of human culture an attempt to not encounter the world "as it is"?

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-14874934511679648762007-11-18T10:16:00.000-07:002007-11-20T16:02:12.900-07:00

Someday I'll snap a new photo of self, since I now have a new Mac, which bodes well for future books from Chax Press. Not so well, the cost, its effect on press budget, etc. But the big thing that got in the way ALL this past year was the eviction notice from the Steinfeld Warehouse, the fighting and lobbying (bureaucrats & politicians), to create a 7-month delay of that eviction, and then,

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-16793456269638445022007-09-21T17:20:00.000-07:002007-09-22T09:36:19.136-07:00

Spring Ulmer: Benjamin's Spectacles, published by Kore Press 2007 Benjamin’s Spectacles writes into history, into shadow, into spring. Into, not through. History as in the times of Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Simone Weil. Shadow as the shadow in which nothing casts a shadow, nothing has substance or meaning. Spring as “May fled to a place so barren / as to be of no contest” or “April

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-22171143112585192882007-09-21T17:10:00.000-07:002007-09-21T18:05:17.749-07:00

where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain I always liked those first lines about the wind & the rain & my honey lem & i (which took me a long time to understand was not my honey lemon eye). I was in Oklahoma for the last four and a half days, in the terrific company of Linda Russo, Jonathan Stallings, Michael Kelleher, Lori Kelleher, my mother Meryle Alexander, and several inquisitive and

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-73422622102406443782007-09-21T17:06:00.000-07:002007-09-21T17:09:57.820-07:00

Long time no blog, all during a move that began at the end of July and has lasted . . . well, it is still lasting. Life remains in boxes, books remain in boxes. But the bulk of it is out of boxes, the press no longer has plastic wrapped around it, and we're working. Chax Press has a new address: 650 E. 9th St.Tucson, AZ 85705 Now I'll try to blog at least a post per week, although I have to

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-47187681380333586482007-07-05T08:30:00.000-07:002007-07-06T08:02:53.362-07:00

We ended our time away from Tucson with three nights in England. First we took the Eurostar from Paris. After a delay of a little less than an hour, the Eurostar people were very apologetic and even told us to keep our tickets and they would be good for one one-way trip free for a year, from London to Paris or vice-versa, or, I think, on one of the other Eurostar routes if we so choose. So we

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-65481658993470393032007-07-03T19:10:00.000-07:002007-07-05T00:15:18.063-07:00

The view out our apartment window, day & night. In the day photo, you can see a fuzzy Tour d'Eiffel in the far background. The night photo was zoomed a good deal more, and the lights of the tower are almost all you can see. And one view inside our apartment. Other than the bedroom, this is the room where we spent the most time when we were in the apartment, talking, eating meals, enjoying

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-47802189398644386732007-07-02T22:01:00.000-07:002007-07-02T23:39:45.962-07:00

Two and a half weeks ago in Paris I was finishing the translation of an 8-page poem by Vincent Broqua, de quoi j'ai l'air. I can not reprint it or the translation here as they will be in another publication brought out by TAMAAS, the sponsor of the translation atelier that 8 poets in addition to Vincent and me. Vincent was translating several poems from my "Pushing Water" as well as a few from "

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-45172531207786475692007-07-02T10:41:00.000-07:002007-07-02T10:54:06.488-07:00

Here's a little more about books in Paris. This was first posted on the Buffalo Poetics List and is here a little bit corrected & expanded. I was very impressed by the general quality of literary books in Paris. Paperback books are generally sewn, printed on high quality paper, and expertly printed (registration, consistency, etc.) with good design and a graceful sense of page layout. A good

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-40230808566705648242007-06-26T11:55:00.000-07:002007-06-26T12:58:25.034-07:00

At this moment, photographers are in the Chax Press studio, photographing ink & type & an image plate on the Vandercook Press for a story in a local magazine. Relocation specialists are moving throughout our building, with movers, assessing the logistics and possible costs of our move (being paid for by the city) which must happen by July 31. The City of Tucson has moved to buy our building from

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-20241082810321387212007-05-24T06:54:00.000-07:002007-05-24T07:15:37.206-07:00

My oldest daughter, Kate, graduates from high school tonight. Otherwise, she's singing Mozart and contemplating the future, a year of college at the U of Arizona before auditions for music schools: Juilliard, Indiana, and more. When she sings I am amazed and lifted. Maybe there is some truth to the Wordsworthian and Keatsian sublime. My youngest daughter, Nora, graduates from eight grade to high

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-41400695485601638282007-05-08T21:07:00.000-07:002007-05-09T08:40:18.347-07:00

Listening to a midi file of section one of Tim Risher's Aviary Corridor, right now, I have little sense of the complexity I heard not quite two weeks ago, and again not quite one week ago, at performances of this work in Bothell, Washington, and in Seattle. I don't consider myself a "lyric" or "lyrical" poet in a traditional sense, yet I do believe I use my ear, in writing, always. Each word, in

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-38756917094987874872007-05-06T21:22:00.000-07:002007-05-09T14:59:53.111-07:00

I spent the last two weeks mostly in Seattle, as artist/writer in residence at U of Washington at Bothell, with a musical world premiere of a song cycle in 10 parts, by composer Tim Risher, that featured my poem "Aviary Corridor" as text. The title of the musical work is also Aviary Corridor. That premiered April 25 and was featured at UW-Bothell and was featured in a subsequent performance in

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4038013.post-18347781423487285102007-04-05T22:32:00.000-07:002007-04-05T22:33:00.349-07:00

well, it IS almost easter weekend

charleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02186181900863150845noreply@blogger.com