[New-Poetry] 100 Poets You Should Know

[Jason Quackenbush]

It's an interesting point. The question I'd like to ask you is visible 
to whom? If you're talking about contemporary performance poetry, they 
don't get much more visible than Buddy Wakefield or Miguel Algarin. Tom 
Raworth, while not particularly visible on this side of the atlantic, is 
more visible in Great Britain than I think a number of the people on 
your list are. I'll withdraw the suggestion though and in his place 
offer Jim Carroll: the only living american poet of import to have 
penned a alternative rock anthem; one that still gets airplay on 
independent "underground" and alternative radio. Plus there was a movie 
about him, which is something you can't say about Jorie Graham, thank 
Christ. I didn't notice this was an american list. As for anthologies, I 
think it depends on whose anthologies you read. I don't know for sure, 
but I'd be willing to bet Clayton Eshleman and Jerome Rothenberg have 
more anthologies between them, both as editors and as poets and 
translators than a good portion of your list combined. Anselm Berrigan, 
aside from being brilliant and a blood heir to the New York School also 
is still the director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Place, which 
as far as I know is the longest running spoken word series on the east 
coast.

As for Ron Padgett, true, he's maybe not the most visible figure and is 
maybe an emotional choice. but nevertheless he's one of the few poets 
I've ever memorized, and I think I probably own more anthologies that 
he's in than I do anthologies that Maya Angelou is in. But then, I don't 
generally buy THOSE kind of anthologies. So yeah, I guess he can go too. 
Still, i think he's a poet everyone should know.

Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
Nothing in that drawer
~Ron Padgett "Nothing In That Drawer"

yrs,
JQ
jforjames at aol.com wrote:
> I can see Alice Notley bumping onto the list...but my list is based on 
> 'visibility' (which I'd loosely define as appearing on
> contents pages of major anthologies, media mentions, book reviews, 
> public readings, etc.) and I'd be surprised if some
> of your other replacements, worthy as they may be, could bump a Gioia 
> or a Jorie, a Dove or an Angelou, etc. 
>
> Say it ain't so about Hayden...I thought he was hanging on in small 
> house in upstate New York. But, yes two list
> criteria are living and U.S. based long enough to be considered 
> 'American' by most. 
> Finnegan 
>
>     it's a good list there are a few people you left off that i would
>     definitely have replaced Rita Dove, Billy Collins, and Ai with. 
>      
>     Actually here are my substitutions 
>      
>     Include: 
>      
>     Padgett Ron 
>     Notley Alice 
>     Berrigan Anselm 
>     Eshleman Clayton 
>     Rothernberg Jerome 
>     Algarin Miguel 
>     Wakefield Buddy 
>     Raworth Tom 
>      
>     in turn remove: 
>     Ai 
>     Angelou Maya 
>     Dove Rita 
>     Giovanni Nikki 
>     Gioia Dana 
>     Graham Jorie 
>     Levine Phillip 
>     Lee Li Young 
>
>
>
>
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