Reading Notes: Poetry Daily, Pushcart 2004

September 15, 2004

I’ve been reading through the Poetry Daily Anthology [Amazon]and it’s not bad! Certainly all “mainstream” poetry, and while I admire trying to do something different with the layout, the whole physical presentation is a bit garish– particularly the cover. But there are some wonderful poems here. A lot of familiar names (some because I know the authors, most because I know their work). I don’t read Poetry Daily every day, so there have even been a few surprises. Worth a few bucks in support of a long-running literary arts website, if nothing else.

Also reading the 2004 Pushcart Anthology [Amazon link]. Not much that has grabbed my attention in the poetry or fiction, but there are two stupendous essays.

“A Measure of Acceptance” by Floyd Skloot, a writer who suffered severe brain damage from a virus in 1988, discusses his treatment by insurance companies who suspect him of malingering, but is really about his relationship with the world and the word. Pretty amazing. I’d seen Skloot’s poetry before, but knew nothing of his biography. As an indication of the severity of the land he must negotiate as an author, it took 11 months to write the essay in 15 minute snatches. If there is better writing about living with brain damage, I’m not aware of it, and there aren’t many better essayists in general, if this piece is anything to judge by.

“Literary Devices” is (supposedly) nonfiction by Richard Powers about his interaction with an experimental storytelling AI system called DIALOGOS. I’ll give Zoetrope’s description of the piece:

“Richard Powers speculates about the narrative complications of the digital age. By invitation of an anonymous e-mail, his narrator tests a computer program, DIALOGOS, which weaves its stories from bits of data around the web, without any central authorship. He sends out e-mails into the DIALOGOS void–to Emma Thompson, to an estranged friend, to Goethe, to Emily Dickinson. Each missive is returned with implausible accuracy. In time, the narrator gets lost in DIALOGOS, and wonders if he has lost touch with reality or if the reality of narrative has in fact been changed. “

I’ve read the piece twice now and it really affected me the second time, when I got past the sci-fi exterior and honed in on the implicit questions about narrative and agency.

Tags: Poetry and Poetics, Publishing