Rodney Koeneke's Blog, page 14

Blogger Extraordinaire

Speaking of spring launches, have you seen that Jerome Sala (the poet, not the Filipino "Balladeer Extraordinaire" who comes up first on Google) has a new blog? Espresso Bongo promises "blogging about poetry, pop culture, everyday life, and how they intermingle." Plus if you read it daily, you'll lose five pounds.

Spring Anniversaries

It's raining poetry anniversaries in Portland this spring. If Not For Kidnap marked the first year of its music-meets-poetry house series at the end of April; Loggernaut followed suit with a 5th-anniversary reading in early May; the Spare Room collective, which celebrated its 100th reading in January of last year, hit eight years of steady service this March; while Tangent, a more occasional affair, crossed the 4-year line this month. Throw in the Smorg, which launched in April 2008, and that...

Intro for Chris Nealon, Portland, 5/15/10

Rumors of the death of the poet-critic have been greatly exaggerated, and Chris Nealon's here tonight as living proof. They make nice across the hyphen, that "poet" and "critic," but often the join conceals a hostile standoff. In one corner there's the poet, all subjectivity and trill; in the other, the Parnassian pro, dispassionately assessing the field.

Once upon a time, good poet-critics smoothed the rift by drinking. Chris, I think, provides a healthier alternative. Across his critically i...

Chris Nealon & Sam Lohmann read in Portland this Sat. for Tangent

Chris Nealon, one of my favorite poet-critics, furloughs from D.C. to read in Portland tomorrow with one of my favorite poet-editors, Sam Lohmann. I predict a "your chocolate in my peanut butter" kind of experience it'd be sinful to miss.

Tangent presents
CHRIS NEALON & SAM LOHMANN
w/ films by T'CHAKA ANGHELOS SIKELIANOS
7 PM Clinton Corner Cafe, 2633 SE 21st Ave. (@ Clinton) Portland, OR

CHRIS NEALON grew up in Binghamton, NY, and moved out west in the mid-90s, where he taught at UC Berkeley for...

Extreme Narrowcasting from the Oracle at Delphi

theos is u.

Dept. of Monday

Re-reading the Necronomicon while YouTubing the Phos Hilarion.

Homecoming King

The rumors have cleared & it's official: Bruce Boone's coming home, reading with Maryrose "Name This Intersection" Larkin this Wednesday, May 12 for Spare Room. Like Bev Dahlen, who read here almost exactly a year ago, Bruce is Portland-born but hasn't been back for a writerly victory lap since he blew town in his teens. Dust off the pennants & and prepare for an I that hums like this:

"So let's put it another way. In the normal course of things it's the cerebellum that musters emotion. To...

Dick Davis's Shahnameh

is the closest I'll ever get to the Persian of Ferdowsi's famous epic, a multi-volume poem condensed here into a version that leavens the inevitable tedium of the chronicle with a string of well-realized vignettes related in supple, vivid language. In Davis's translation, each of Ferdowsi's many kings and heroes miraculously stays distinct, and you get enough of each story—especially the famous Rostam's—to gain a feel for the aesthetic predilections of classical Persian ...

Imperial Peach

Treat yourself and click through immediately to Trane DeVore's great reading of an extraordinary Japanese jazz/scat rendering of the Momotaro ("Peach Boy") folk tale. Monk and Mingus never looked so imperially ambiguous. Danke, Trane.

Duncan is Jandek

Nice writeup from poet James Yeary on the radium-rare Jandek appearance in Portland last week with, um ... what's the name of that guy who was in Sonic Youth? Apparently, both go well with vegan nachos & Robert Duncan. Seems like everything goes well with Robert Duncan these days. Robert Duncan: the Jandek of postmodern American poetry? (With Spicer his Thurston Moore?)