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After Language Poetry
Peter Gizzi

From OEI 7-8 2001: AFTER LANGUAGE POETRY



At best I am always in the process of narrating my bewilderment in the world, in language, in society. I use my bewilderment to disclose an environment where something like "what is true to me" can take place in a speech act. I guess my work in some way narrates the gaps I read between my reception and what is known. And the process is an embodied one. It can be either painful or joyful to realize a gap and express the loneliness of an animal differentiating from other animals and things. Even if the action of the poem is successful in creating that very connection to a world. In this way all poetry is a lament. What does this mean in relation to L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E? I would say that the connection for me is that we all share an interest in modernity. We share common texts. Whether it be the writings of Emily Dickinson or Jack Spicer. Ezra Pound or H.D. Gertrude Stein or John Cage. George Oppen or Lorine Niedecker. It is about listening to a tradition that provides method and ground in our present.


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