Jennifer Karmin introducing the Red Rover Series Experiment #36 event, "Textual Ecologies & Contaminations," featuring Jennifer Scappettone and Asimina Chremos
Jennifer Scappettone setting up her performance of Exit 43
Jennifer and part of her chorus performing her piece, Exit 43
One of Jennifer Scappettone's really beautiful, complex "stills," a pop-up from/within Exit 43
Asimina Chremos, introducing her piece, a collage text with performances (one via Skype)
The Red Rover loft audience, between sets
Kathleen Duffy, Jennifer Karmin, and Chris Glomski, performing a quarto from Jennifer's new book, Aaaaaaaaaaalice (Film Forum, 2010), at its launch
Kathleen Duffy, opening the program
Krista Franklin, at Jennifer Karmin's book launch (Krista, Chris Glomski, Kathleen Duffy, Laura Goldstein, Joel Craig, Lisa Janssen, and I all participated/collaborated in this event)
M. NourbeSe Philip, at the Poetry and Poetics Working Group workshop, at the university, in May
My distinguished colleague Sandra Richards, and M. NourbeSe Philip, after Philip's superlative reading from Zong!, in May
The hosts of the Uncalled For Readings Series at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville, Tim Jones-Yelvington and Megan Milks, in May
The incomparable Nathanaël (Nathalie Stephens), reading from The Sorrow and the Fast of It at the Uncalled For Readings Series at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville, in May
Reader Trish Bendix, reading from her short story at the Uncalled For Readings Series at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville, in May
Kareem Khubchandani, reading from her short story at the Uncalled For Readings Series at Las Manos Gallery in Andersonville, in May
Douglas Ewart and Company, with Duriel Harris (at far right), at the Velvet Lounge, in April
Joanne Beard, reading at the English Major in Writing's annual Writers Festival, in April
Frank Bidart, reading at the English Major in Writing's annual Writers Festival, in April
George Saunders, leading his master class, at the English Major in Writing's annual Writers Festival, in April
George Saunders, reading at the English Major in Writing's annual Writers Festival, in April
Cristina Henríquez, reading at the alumni reading, at the English Major in Writing's annual Writers Festival, in April
Joshua Weiner, reading at the alumni reading, at the English Major in Writing's annual Writers Festival, in April
A belated question: what does Zong! sound like? Is it meant to be read horizontally, left to right, or vertically, or a mix? I would have loved to hear M. Nourbese Philip read it. It is such a great text, and she is one of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteKeguro, it *can* sound like many different things, or could be read in different ways, across and/or down, as Philip herself suggested (and one rule she set was that there must be space [light] above each word in the early sections, a metaphysical/historical/social construct, which creates the particular open-form appearance of the work; she read the opening sections as if she were reading a musical score, leaving pauses between the words, which created a dual feeling both of stasis (of being on the sea, for example, or in water), and of movement when she moved from word to word. At the end of each poem she would read the names of the resurrected enslaved people, which was striking. The overall effect was unlike most of the poetry readings you'd hear, or most of the readings of poetry you'd hear, and it was wonderful to hear both her and, earlier this quarter, Frank Bidart (whom I've heard before, many years before), present their texts as forms of performance but of the usual sort. I highly recommend inviting Philip to campus if you can; she was wonderful to talk with, she graciously participated in a conversation/workshop, with the lit faculty in poetry and poetics, and she offered many insights. But the highpoint for me was her reading of the work--it was striking, in the best way.
ReplyDelete