Poet introduction (2)

"Public" comes from the Latin populus for people. Public are activities done for the people, in front of the people, publicly.

"Pub" is short for public drinking house -- a place where people can talk publicly, discuss public matters. I imagined the People's Party was started in a pub. When I check Wikipedia, I found it's not true but did find that the third governor of Washington state elected in 1897 was a member of the People's Party. Mostly a Western states movement, members of the People's Party were known as Populists.

Populists appeal to the common public and not established interests. Today's poet's appeal is his poetry -- what people are concerned with, not what the establishment expects.

Cody Walker ...

Input (iv)

Reading - "Dharma Bums" and "Desolation Angels" Jack Kerouac; "Collected Works" Lorine Niedecker.

Movie - "Rocker Girls."

Download - "Heretic Pride" The Mountain Goats.

Poet introduction (1)

Humor -- it can be awkward as in laughing at the wrong time or being the only one laughing in the movie theater; it can be therapeutic as in laughing until you cry.

It's interesting to note that humerus is its homonym; humerus being the long bone in your upper arm. Perhaps that's the true funny bone.

Our poet today uses humor as a way to the truth. Her work is humorous (funny not the bone) because we see ourselves -- or someone we know -- in her poems.

Alexandra Oliver ...

Input (iii)

Reading: (in preparation for Anne Waldman workshop) Fast Speaking Woman; Marriage: A Sentence; In the Room of Never Grieve; Outrider; and Civil Disobediences. (photo from gregfuchs.com)

DVD: Ramones Alive!

Download: Bob Mould, District Line.

Rain that imitates Anne Waldman

Awake the politics in poetics. Move beyond observations. Stand up.