Identity Poetics
English 685 ~ Fall 2001 ~ Susan Tichy 
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Week 7: Fall Break: No Class
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Week 8: Oct 15: 
A Gentle Cacophony: Edwin Torres

His bent for soul bending language play is without equal.--New York Press

[I]nstead of 'sounding things', he “things' sounds, so that words and meanings 
go ka-plunk like soft percussion.-- Ethan Petitt, Nose Magazine

It's hard to wrestle meaning from the shreds of language he tosses out. And on paper, 
Torres seems to make as much sense as a Port Authority schizophrenic. 
-- New York Magazine

Poems  ~ Secondary  ~ Quotes ~ General Schedule ~ Back to Week 6 ~ On to Week 9


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Core Reading: Poems:

Edwin Torres:
Fractured Humorous 

Reserve Desk Audio: Holy Kid (CD)

EPC: From Torres’ author page, link to on-line poems, including: 15 Minutes, Gigabyte Me, Mr. Hay’s Trippy Moebius, I: Quatro, No Fructose in Gooseland, Rooster in the Classroom, Butterfly Roadkill, Warzawa Infinite, & In Consideration of End

UbuWeb Visual, Concrete + Sound Poetry
Another valuable site, including visual poems, sound files, and an archive of essays on related subjects.  "Moholy", the Torres visual poem here can be reached via a link on his EPC page, but for future reference, here’s the URL: http://www.ubuweb.com

Torres: Sensei Sunset: A Love Poem To The Alphabet. A Gathering of Tribes Magazine
(no link on EPC)


Core Reading: Interviews & Secondary:

Read all of these:

CopyShop:
Charles Bernstein: Introduction. Close Listening: Poetry and the Performed Word

Web:

PPS: Nick Yasinski: The Form Identity Takes, Poetry & the Public Sphere

Torres: ! ESTO ES MI PORTO-CULTI-PERPO¡ : A Lecture on Class for the St. Mark's Poetry Project Symposium (may also be reached from EPC)

Torres: The Gentle Cacophony of Edwin Torres, interview by Wanda Phipps (no link on EPC)


Additional Sources: Web:

EPC: Brenda Coultas, review of Fractured Humorous

UbuWeb: Steve McCaffery “Sound Poetry - A Survey,” from Sound Poetry: A Catalogue, edited by Steve McCaffery and bpNichol. Toronto: Underwich Editions, 1978

Holy Kid: An Interview with Edwin Torres
 

Poems  ~ Secondary  ~ Quotes ~ General Schedule ~ Back to Week 6 ~ On to Week 9

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