Friday, December 09, 2011

Hoagland: "The Naming is Not a Divorce from the Thing"

I've discovered a new audio resource, a ton of interviews, lectures, and readings of poets and writers both living and dead. It's called Wired for Books, from Ohio University radio, and I'm just scratching the surface.

Love him or hate him, this one is worth a listen, Tony Hoagland lecturing on poetics, the "new" and "old" poetry, and litany poems as a good place to see what "new" is.  He talks about the "American plain style," as given to us by William Carlos Williams, and its legacy in the last 40 years, in which language is pushing its way back up to the front.  On the gap between the word and the thing: "The naming is not a divorce from the thing; the naming is a kind of wedding with the thing."

Among the poems he reads and unpacks is "Or," by Thomas Sayers Ellis, which embodies the American plain style and also a sense of the "game" of language. 

here's the MP3:
http://www.wiredforbooks.org/mp3/litfest/TonyHoaglandLecture.mp3

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

(Shurangama Sutra and Mantra)(Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra)(Sutra of the Vows of the Medicine Buddha)(Diamond Sūtra)(Kṣitigarbha)(Avalokiteśvara) (Mahāsthāmaprāpta)(Amita Buddhaya)(Bhaiṣajyaguru)
The Twelve Vows of the Medicine Buddha upon attaining Enlightenment, according to the Medicine Buddha Sutra are:
To illuminate countless realms with his radiance, enabling anyone to become a Buddha just like him.
To awaken the minds of sentient beings through his light of lapis lazuli.
To provide the sentient beings with whatever material needs they require.
To correct heretical views and inspire beings toward the path of the Bodhisattva.
To help beings follow the Moral Precepts, even if they failed before.
To heal beings born with deformities, illness or other physical sufferings.
To help relieve the destitute and the sick.
To help women who wish to be reborn as men achieve their desired rebirth.
To help heal mental afflictions and delusions.
To help the oppressed be free from suffering.
To relieve those who suffer from terrible hunger and thirst.
To help clothe those who are destitute and suffering from cold and mosquitoes.