My memory of this matches Mark's. It was all very weird at the time.
After an earlier bout of confusion with Kent I realised that what was
going on was not straightforward so I opted out of the cufuffle. I am
not a big fan of that sort of game playing, though it can be fun. It
tends to be destructive in the long-run. I realised later that Kent
Johnson is a very interesting poet but I've lost track of what he's
been doing recently.
Tim A.
On 27 Sep 2009, at 23:48, Mark Weiss wrote:
> I have a complex history with Kent, of whom I'm genuinely fond. As I
> remember, he came onto this list and tried to sway it entirely to
> his agenda and away from British poetry. At the time he was using
> weblists as performance spaces, and devil take you if you didn't
> want him performing in your living room. He was also publishing
> private emails, rewritten to serve his purposes. When called to
> accounts he tended to become abusive, and to carry on backchannel.
>
> He hasn't done that sort of thing in a couple of years. His ouster
> from list after list had nothing to do with his opinions.
>
> Mark
>
> At 06:05 PM 9/27/2009, you wrote:
>> I witnessed as a lurker Kent Johnson being thrown off this list,
>> and other
>> lists, by the people who seem to believe they have a divine right to
>> control opinion on mailing lists. I can understand the list police
>> have
>> an agenda. I don't understand the silence of those who must have also
>> witnessed those events.
>>
>> KJ was was making fun of bourgeois values. i thought subscribers to
>> this list would find his "Poetry as Architecture" posts extremely
>> amusing
>> and interesting. i was astonished by the reaction of poets i
>> considered
>> beautiful people. i stll find it astonishing that poets can be so
>> opposed
>> to the very thing that poets should find interesing.
>>
>> On Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:38:33 +0100
>> Tim Allen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> >> Sean, I don't detect 'bourgeois values' in Kent's work. David B
>> said
>> >> that, not me. It is true that I find Kent's work problematic,
>> but I
>> >> think that is in the ways it is supposed to be 'problematic', if
>> you
>> >> know what I mean.
>> >> I was simply following up on David's use of the word 'bourgeois'
>> to
>> >> see if he was talking about something that I've come across too,
>> with
>> >> names that haven't been mentioned and probably won't be.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers
>> >> Tim A.
>> >>
>> >> On 27 Sep 2009, at 13:31, Sean Bonney wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > yeh, totally, Rich. I'd say Kent was one of the American writers
>> >> > least deserving of being called 'bourgeois' (thanx for the
>> info on
>> >> > his actual political activites, I didn't know that).
>> >> > and Tim, what are these 'bourgeois values' you can detect in
>> Kent's
>> >> > work?
>> >> >
>> >> > http://abandonedbuildings.blogspot.com/
>> >> >
>> >> > --- On Sun, 27/9/09, richard owens <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > From: richard owens <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> > Subject: Re: 'Day' by Kent Johnson
>> >> > To: [log in to unmask]
>> >> > Date: Sunday, 27 September, 2009, 1:21 PM
>> >> >
>> >> > SEAN &C:
>> >> >
>> >> > respuesta: Kent as bourgie bastard ...
>> >> >
>> >> > further clarification re Kent's community college / literacy
>> work: i
>> >> > see Kent's unrelenting attacks on contemporary "avant-garde"
>> >> > practice (i.e. flarf, con-po, lang po) as an important
>> extension of
>> >> > his earlier work around social justice issues, cultural
>> politics,
>> >> > etc -- & i think Yasusada, Lyric Po After Auschwitz & his other
>> >> > guerrilla projects make this pretty clear (precisely in spite
>> of the
>> >> > ambiguity of those projects.
>> >> >
>> >> > ----------------------> a conversation worth having i think.
>> >> >
>> >> > ........richard owens
>> >> > 810 richmond ave
>> >> > buffalo NY 14222-1167
>> >> >
>> >> > damn the caesars, the journal
>> >> > damn the caesars, the blog
>> >> >
>> >> > --- On Sun, 9/27/09, richard owens <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > From: richard owens <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> > Subject: Re: 'Day' by Kent Johnson
>> >> > To: [log in to unmask]
>> >> > Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009, 7:44 AM
>> >> >
>> >> > SEAN &C:
>> >> >
>> >> > it's also worth adding that a good deal of Kent's work over
>> the past
>> >> > 30 years has been given to issues of literacy, social justice &
>> >> > economic inequality -- i.e. he _chooses_ to teach Spanish at a
>> >> > community college (w/ a PhD on Creeley &c) vs. competing for a
>> >> > "successful" hackademic career; he worked teaching literacy in
>> >> > Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution, edited an
>> anthology of
>> >> > Sandinista poetry, etc.
>> >> >
>> >> > rich ...
>> >> >
>> >> > ........richard owens
>> >> > 810 richmond ave
>> >> > buffalo NY 14222-1167
>> >> >
>> >> > damn the caesars, the journal
>> >> > damn the caesars, the blog
>> >> >
>> >> > --- On Sun, 9/27/09, Sean Bonney <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > From: Sean Bonney <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> > Subject: Re: 'Day' by Kent Johnson
>> >> > To: [log in to unmask]
>> >> > Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009, 7:24 AM
>> >> >
>> >> > David, it looks pretty clear that Kent's work is a satire on
>> Kenny
>> >> > Goldsmith. Second, this is the second time in as many weeks that
>> >> > you've accused someone of being "bourgeois", neither time with
>> much
>> >> > justification. Whats the problem?
>> >> >
>> >> > http://abandonedbuildings.blogspot.com/
>> >> >
>> >> > --- On Sun, 27/9/09, David Bircumshaw
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> > wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > From: David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> > Subject: Re: 'Day' by Kent Johnson
>> >> > To: [log in to unmask]
>> >> > Date: Sunday, 27 September, 2009, 6:02 AM
>> >> >
>> >> > My, Kent's come on. I used to know him before he became a famous
>> >> > bourgeois writer, you know, he even once suggested we
>> collaborate,
>> >> > but I never got him to specially sign anything. I guess though I
>> >> > would have had to pay for that privelige.
>> >> > One thing, he is a bit out of date, the art of plagiarism by
>> middle-
>> >> > class authors was long ago perfected by Messrs Chaucer and
>> >> > Shakespeare. My love to him and his non-ego.
>> >> >
>> >> > David Bircumshaw
>> >> >
>> >> > Author of 'If It's On the Internet, It Doesn't Exist'
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > 2009/9/26 Jeffrey Side <[log in to unmask]>
>> >> > 'Day' a new work by Kent Johnson:
>> >> >
>> >> > http://www.digitalemunction.com/2009/09/22/advertisement-kent-
>> >> > johnsonsday/
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Price: $21, plus ship ping and han dling. ($250 for each of
>> ten num
>> >> > bered
>> >> > copies signed by the Author, no charge for ship ping and han
>> dling.)
>> >> > All
>> >> > copies come with spe cially designed, affixed stick ers (on
>> cover,
>> >> > back
>> >> > cover, title page, spine, etc.) to impart author ship, copy
>> right,
>> >> > blurbs,
>> >> > and co-​production.
>> >> >
>> >> > If the 836-pp. Day estab lished Kenny Gold smith as with out a
>> doubt
>> >> > the
>> >> > lead ing con cep tual poet of his time, the 836-pp. Day by
>> Kent John
>> >> > son
>> >> > may well be remem bered for nudg ing the pol i tics of Con cep
>> tual
>> >> > Poetry
>> >> > out of blithely affir ma tive, insti tu tional fram ings, and
>> into
>> >> > truly nega
>> >> > tional crit i cal spaces.
>> >> >
>> >> > –Juliana Spahr
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Recent trends in tech nolo gies of com mu ni ca tion have
>> already
>> >> > begun to
>> >> > sub vert the roman tic bas tions of ╲creativity╡
>> and ╲authorship,╡
>> >> > call ing
>> >> > into ques tion the pro pri ety of copy right through strate
>> gies of
>> >> > pla gia ris
>> >> > tic appropriation∑ Such devel op ments have caused poets to
>> thhe o
>> >> > rize an
>> >> > inno v a tive aes thet ics of ╲conceptual
>> literature╡ that has begun
>> >> > to ques
>> >> > tion, if not to aban don, the lyri cal man date of orig i nal
>> ity in
>> >> > order to
>> >> > explore the poten tials of the ╲uncreative,╡ be it
>> auto matic, man
>> >> > ner ist,
>> >> > aleatoric, or ready made, in its lit er ary practice∑ Such
>> acttiv ity
>> >> > (employ
>> >> > ing self and ego-​effacing tac tics via uncre ativ ity,
>> uno
>> >> > rig i nal ity, appro pri
>> >> > a tion, pla gia rism, fraud, theft, and fal si fi ca tion as
>> its pre
>> >> > cepts) has
>> >> > become one of the most rad i cal, if not one of the most pop u
>> lar,
>> >> > limit-​
>> >> > cases of the avant-​garde at the advent of the mil len
>> nium.
>> >> > With Day,
>> >> > Kent John son claims his place as one of the major fig ures of
>> this
>> >> > new
>> >> > writ ing, show ing, in single move, how Con cep tual Poetry
>> has been
>> >> > nearly forty years behind the pol i tics of Insti tu tional
>> Critique.
>> >> >
>> >> > –Chris t ian Bök
>> >> >
>> >> > As he once asked, at the blog of the Poetry Foun da tion
>> (though with
>> >> > what seems in ret ro spect a disin gen u ous banal ity),
>> ╲Nearly one
>> >> > hun dred
>> >> > years after Duchamp, why hasnâ•˙t appro pri a tion become a
>> valid, sus
>> >> > tained[,] or even tested lit er ary prac tice?╡ Here now,
>> Kent John
>> >> > son
>> >> > wagers the query with a vengeance, brazenly upping the ante of
>> Uncre
>> >> > ative dialec tic by throw ing down before us a ready made ges
>> ture
>> >> > that is
>> >> > noth ing but dizzy ing in the syn the sis of its con cep tion:
>> a fla
>> >> > grant appro
>> >> > pri a tion of a Con cep tual workâ•˙s Author ship and Copy
>> right, cat
>> >> > e gories
>> >> > which them selves had been branded into this same text, in fla
>> grant
>> >> > appro pri a tion by another K (yes, me), in first, anti thet i
>> cal
>> >> > instance.
>> >> > Thus, here at Boring Ranch, in gamble with a gambol, he claims
>> all the
>> >> > cow chips, one could say, with the sear ing, aster isked irony
>> of a
>> >> > double-
>> >> > K smok ing iron. His Day emerges hot and bright from the dead-
>> >> > ​dark of
>> >> > an inno cent pre-​dawn, a sort of authen tic After life
>> that
>> >> > rises from
>> >> > the ╲orig i nal╡ sim u lacral body in which it had
>> lain (latent and
>> >> > expec
>> >> > tant). As in the best of Sher rie Levine, but more rad i cally
>> >> > still, it sum
>> >> > mons us, now, that we might think harder in its sudden light.
>> Indeed,
>> >> > Kent Johnsonâ•˙s Day stands as the first Con cep tual ges
>> ture of its
>> >> > kind in
>> >> > the his tory of Amer i can poetry: An open, lit eral theft of an
>> >> > entire ╲book,╡ exhib ited with out shame, as a new
>> and strange Work of
>> >> > Art in our Museum of Modern Poetry. I can only tip my hat.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > –Kenny Goldsmith
>> >> >
>> >> > Order from BlazeVOX Books. Orders also avail able in the near
>> future
>> >> > from SPD and Amazon
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> > David Bircumshaw
>> >> > "A window./Big enough to hold screams/
>> >> > You say are poems" - DMeltzer
>> >> > Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> >> > http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
>> >> > The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> >> > Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>> >> > Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> life's a beach
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