Where You're At: Poetics & Visual Art

by Kevin Power

Literary Nonfiction. Poetry History & Criticism. Art. These eight interviews—with Jerome Rothenberg, Robert Duncan, Robert Bly, Michael McClure, Robert Creeley, George and Mary Oppen, Bill Berkson, and David Meltzer—were conducted in the mid-1970s and constitute a mapping of American poetry during these dramatic years when a series of major alternatives were being opened in poetics. The conversations look at the relationships between poetry and other disciplines, focusing above all on the intense exchanges between contemporary art and the work and writings of these poets. Power discusses "deep image" and ethnopoetry with Rothenberg, subjective verse and myth with Bly, and lyrical philosophy and Objectivism with the Oppens. He also looks at the central role of West Coast Expressionism, collage and assemblage, focusing on the centricity of artists such as Hassel Smith, Corbett, and Jess in Duncan's work, the dramatic impact of Abstract Expressionism on the poetics and writing of Creeley, the impact of Pollock and Surrealism on McClure, the presence of Herms and Berman in L.A. and the collaborations with Semina in his conversation with Meltzer, and the fluid and vital exchanges that were going on between abstract and figurative artists and the New York School of poets in his discussion with Berkson. The conversations bring us close to the ways in which contemporary art impacted so significantly on the work of these poets. Rich with anecdote, personal history, and sharp insights, this is an invaluable resource for students of modern American literature.

210 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2011

About the author

Author of Bad Day in Blackrock (Lilliput Press, 2008; Pocket Books, 2010), filmed as What Richard Did (Element Films, 2012). PhD in American Literature. Lectures in English & Creative Writing in the School of English, Dublin City University. Winner of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature 2009 and the Hennessy XO Award for Emerging Fiction 2008. Writes regularly for The Sunday Business Post and Literary Review. Has also written for The Dublin Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, The Dublin Review of Books, The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, The Sunday Times, Strange Horizons, UCD Scholarcast, The Mailer Review, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, Emerging Perspectives, The Stinging Fly. Short fiction has appeared in Banshee, on RTE Radio 1, in Reading the Future (Arlen House 2017), in The Stinging Fly, The Sunday Business Post, The Hennessy Book of Irish Writing 2005-2015 (New Island 2015), New Irish Short Stories (Faber 2011), These Are Our Lives (Stinging Fly Press 2006), Guts, Circle & Square (Fiery Arrow 2015). New novel on the way. Tweets @KevPow3.