Kim Addonizio presents Lecture, Rebecca Brown, and Brian Evenson Read at Centrum

Thursday July 17, 2008
Grey on grey, a congregation of seagulls of all ages; in the foreground two crows picking the head of a salmon clean. Two fishermen emerge from the fog, only two small boats as far as I can see.

Gulls take off, one sweeping shwoosching wave of wings across the surf. The crows hop, hoppety, hop to higher ground, leaving behind an alien creature gasping for air.


Poetic License

For the afternoon lecture Kim Addonizio reads from a chapter in Ordinary Genius: a guide for the poet within her upcoming book (January 2009) and shares with Tsjechov the notion that you need to write "colder" about emotional stuff so the reader comes to the emotion rather than be hit by it over the head. "'Hopeless grief is passionless', says Browning," she adds.

After dinner Rebecca Brown reads from her oeuvre, and touches us, sharing the bare bones of honesty in her Excerpts from a Family Medical Dictionary.
Brian Evenson brings someone into our circle we'd rather not know, but who makes us laugh nevertheless. Literary version of South Park. Tragic material seated on a funny bone.

Anne Waldman Doesn't Miss a Beat at Centrum

Tuesday July 15, 2008
Imagine Jake getting up before daybreak. Cup of tea in hand he steps out of his house onto the boulevard.
Awesome sight, darkness, light, daybreak. He makes his way across the sand to where the waves lick the beach ~~~~schwoosch~~~~schwoosch~~~~schwoosch.

After finishing Jake's factual biography I realized I missed too much information, but his story remains interesting. In 2006 I thought that was perhaps good enough a reason to take what I had and to create a fictional account… Write a novel or at least a short story, or a novella about his endeavors to become a professional artist.

Selah Saterstrom's book The Pink Institution (can't help it, keep on wanting to say Asylum) is an eye opener. What on earth is she doing? I wondered eyeing the white space, the omitted texts. And then I got it. If our personal memory is fragmented already, the past for sure is. History is fragmented, blank spots may appear when looking back. Selah knows how to glance in the mirror sideways to catch the moments of truth that propel the story of four generations of women forward. The cover tells you the book is a novel, and novel it is, with it's combination of poetry prose, poetry and prose, and thoughtful illustrations this small book is a gem of experimental writing.

Rebecca Brown's introductions of presenters are mini-lectures within themselves. Before Anne Waldman steps into the footlight Rebecca has taken us back three quarters of a century, the times when Memphis Minnie seduced the crowds with her country-blues sounds. She prepares us for the "s-witch" in Walman's work, for words treated as sacred creatures, for taking it all in "Without Stitching Closed the Eye of the Falcon" (audio).
Anne Waldman is an activist powerhouse, with a performance that must inspire the lot of us to stand up and deliver.