[Chatter]

Seth Abramson:

I don't think you can armchair this stuff, it takes year of dedicated toil on a thin slice of history to get it right, to chronicle what really happened and why, and what it means, and--I don't know--in light of that I think to myself, School of Quietude, seriously? I mean, seriously? Is that a joke? Quite apart from his abhorrence at the notion of "describing," I think Dorn would, were he around, urinate publicly on the sort of sloppy thinking that condenses decades of intricate happenings into a bumper sticker. Black Mountain School? I mean what the hell is that all about? Olson and Duncan and Creeley were totally different poets, with totally different personalities and artistic temperaments and aesthetic worldviews. So they were in the same space for a few years, so what? Olson probably spent as much time with Jung--reading his writings, I mean--as he did breaking bread with Creeley, and clearly one set of views "took" and the other less so, whatever their institutional affiliations were. The term Black Mountain School is an obscenity, developed for the ease and comfort of those who want bite-size nuggets of history fed to them--like trivia for a pub quiz--at regular intervals.

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Flarf Fixie

"Flarf Fixie" (Theoretical Spaces Gallery, Brooklyn) is the first exhibition of the artist collective New York Crew, kicking off their series of visual works, performances and theory installations intended to critically engage the notion of a "contemporary historical avant garde of writing." "Flarf Fixie" examines recent discourses of "Conceptual Writing" and "Flarf" via the constitutive financial ontologies of fine art objects and art-school, hipster culture. A future show in Echo Park, Los Angeles, will similarly deconstruct self-reflexive blind spots in the power narratives of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E and their students.

See their blog.

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PEN vs. Karadzic

A Slovakian literary magazine has been denounced by writers' organisation PEN for publishing poems by Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Karadzic was captured by Serbian intelligence last July after 12 years in hiding. The Slovakian PEN Centre, part of PEN International, criticised Slovakian magazine Dotyky "from an ethical and moral point of view" for publishing Karadzic's poetry earlier this month without any editorial commentary about his background while he is "indicted for war crimes in connection with the 1990s Bosnian conflict, including crimes against humanity".

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Text Festival

Thursday 30th April onwards The Bury Text Festival, organised by Tony Trehy, is fast approaching. Confirmed participants include:

• Geof Huth
• P. Inman
• Tony Lopez
• Ron Silliman
• Carol Watts

There are also ongoing exhibitions and a series of talks on a variety of subjects. Tickets can be purchased from Ticketline. via Matt Dalby

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Parasol Unit: Andrea Brady

Thursday 30th April, 7pm 14 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW Admission is free. via modernpoetry.org

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The Other Room 2

The Other Room has posted up videos of way back in summer 2008, include Tom Jenks, Alex Middleton, Robert Sheppard and Harriet Tarlo. Readings from Alan Halsey and Geraldine Monk to come shortly.

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Hot Gun! Update

The website and Paypal for Hot Gun! is now available.

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ctrl+alt+del

Rhys Trimble has created a reader-assembled PDF. It's been done a couple of times before but Rhys's presentation of the idea is the first one I've seen that really makes sense. Check it out. via The Other Room

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Jeff Hilson at Edge Hill University

Thursday 23rd April, 6.30 - 8.30pm Jeff Hilson will be talking about his work, including Bird bird. E24, Education Block, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancs Admission is free.

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Chlorine Readings

Tuesday 28th April, 8pm

• Keston Sutherland
• Timothy Thornton
• Luke Roberts
• Francesca Lisette

The Hope, Queens Road, Brighton Admission £5 (waged) / £3 (conc.) Chlorine Readings are proud to present a Grasp Press Reading in Brighton. Chlorine Readings is a poetry reading series organised by the poet Francesca Lisette. Blog and magazine with the same name to come... Exciting stuff! Do away with ya socks. Grasp Press website

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