November 6th, 2008 / 12:28 pm
Author Spotlight
Justin Taylor
Author Spotlight
i took the two and smashed them together until they became a solid piece of total beauty
Today at Dennis Cooper’s Den of Awesome, we learn all about the poet Steve Richmond.
Hey
Hey, I woke up today!
And there was the sun again
shooting in through the shades
and spearing me in the eye!
And the clock! Still alive!
and the rug was not on fire!
and the lawn! The trees! The gutter!
All there! Once again!
Today!
Tags: bukowski, Dennis Cooper, Steve Richmond
this is good justin, thank you for posting.
this is good justin, thank you for posting.
i want to look into this poem. i’m not really into bukowski, but “hey” is pretty awesome.
i meant look into this poet.
i want to look into this poem. i’m not really into bukowski, but “hey” is pretty awesome.
i meant look into this poet.
ben pleasants is kind of a bukowski hater. i forgot about this guy. i read his ‘article’ on bukowski being a nazi a few years back. it made me laugh
the entire article about steve richmond is here
ben pleasants is kind of a bukowski hater. i forgot about this guy. i read his ‘article’ on bukowski being a nazi a few years back. it made me laugh
the entire article about steve richmond is here
The Steve Richmond poems and info was great. But, yeah, then I went and looked at the Bukowski as Nazi stuff. Pleasants seems like he has an agenda- but and really, i mean this– what the hell do I know? Then again, people still love ezra pound’s work and he was card carrying fascist.
The Steve Richmond poems and info was great. But, yeah, then I went and looked at the Bukowski as Nazi stuff. Pleasants seems like he has an agenda- but and really, i mean this– what the hell do I know? Then again, people still love ezra pound’s work and he was card carrying fascist.
PR – This is probably incredibly nit-picky, so sorry for that, but Pound wasn’t a member of the Fascist Party (implied by ‘card carrying’). He was clearly sympathetic to fascism and Mussolini and against the US entering WWII, maybe naively so some would argue, but yeah, he had questionable politics, but probably (at least in my reading) not as extreme as is sometimes painted. Most of his politics came out in English-language radio broadcasts in Italy, which for fun, are transcribed here:
http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/pound_ezra/radioPound.html
PR – This is probably incredibly nit-picky, so sorry for that, but Pound wasn’t a member of the Fascist Party (implied by ‘card carrying’). He was clearly sympathetic to fascism and Mussolini and against the US entering WWII, maybe naively so some would argue, but yeah, he had questionable politics, but probably (at least in my reading) not as extreme as is sometimes painted. Most of his politics came out in English-language radio broadcasts in Italy, which for fun, are transcribed here:
http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/pound_ezra/radioPound.html
Thanks for clarifying, Matt K. I don’t know much about Pound, but it doesn’t sound like you are denying his politics as much as saying it’s been exxagerated. I am a fan of Knut Hamsun’s novels, hunger and pan, and it breaks my heart to hear his about his political woes, which people claim have been exaggerated, too.( I just went to wiki..all that was he or not a member stuff…) I guess my point was, even if a writer has really bad politics, they can write good fiction or poetry.
Thanks for clarifying, Matt K. I don’t know much about Pound, but it doesn’t sound like you are denying his politics as much as saying it’s been exxagerated. I am a fan of Knut Hamsun’s novels, hunger and pan, and it breaks my heart to hear his about his political woes, which people claim have been exaggerated, too.( I just went to wiki..all that was he or not a member stuff…) I guess my point was, even if a writer has really bad politics, they can write good fiction or poetry.
OK, in PRs defense and to refine what I said: I just glanced through the ‘war years’ chapter from Noel Stock’s Pound biography, and it’s not a stretch to say that he said a lot of antisemitic things during WWII, so while he wasn’t a member of the fascist party, he definitely had some very questionable politics.
OK, in PRs defense and to refine what I said: I just glanced through the ‘war years’ chapter from Noel Stock’s Pound biography, and it’s not a stretch to say that he said a lot of antisemitic things during WWII, so while he wasn’t a member of the fascist party, he definitely had some very questionable politics.
Yeah, those speeches that you nicely shared? Facist isn’t right – I guess he was better known for throwing around the word “kike” and his anti-semitic views. Wow. Rough stuff. But – poetry is not poltics. I guess with the article on Bukowski, there seems no coraboration – but maybe I didn’t read it carefully. But it seems like one word against another.
Yeah, those speeches that you nicely shared? Facist isn’t right – I guess he was better known for throwing around the word “kike” and his anti-semitic views. Wow. Rough stuff. But – poetry is not poltics. I guess with the article on Bukowski, there seems no coraboration – but maybe I didn’t read it carefully. But it seems like one word against another.
PR – Yeah, i mean, I could agree that poetry isn’t politics, but I think you could argue that all writing is political (maybe taking a broad definition of ‘politics’) – I think, though, we can dismiss Pound as a person and just look at the work, which is probably a good practice anyway. Pound was an important poet, but yeah, a shithead.
PR – Yeah, i mean, I could agree that poetry isn’t politics, but I think you could argue that all writing is political (maybe taking a broad definition of ‘politics’) – I think, though, we can dismiss Pound as a person and just look at the work, which is probably a good practice anyway. Pound was an important poet, but yeah, a shithead.
I undestand that all writing is somehow inherently political. But than you do have Pound, and some others (Heidegger?) who have made some interesting work, but had really, really bad poltics. I reread The Sun Also Rises recently (I’m a rereader- its an ocd thing, more depth, even if that means less breadth) and FREAKED out about Hemingway’s anti-semticism. It was rampant in the world. Not that this fact excuses Hem or Pound, but remember- this was when our best universities- harvard and so on- had “quotas” as to how many Jewish men they allowed (men, notice..) So, the world has changed for the much bettter….not that it is perfect. But it is feeling pretty good right now with Obama…
I undestand that all writing is somehow inherently political. But than you do have Pound, and some others (Heidegger?) who have made some interesting work, but had really, really bad poltics. I reread The Sun Also Rises recently (I’m a rereader- its an ocd thing, more depth, even if that means less breadth) and FREAKED out about Hemingway’s anti-semticism. It was rampant in the world. Not that this fact excuses Hem or Pound, but remember- this was when our best universities- harvard and so on- had “quotas” as to how many Jewish men they allowed (men, notice..) So, the world has changed for the much bettter….not that it is perfect. But it is feeling pretty good right now with Obama…
Yeah, it’s a tough call, i think when the *work* contains stuff like that, is tough – I reread Sun Also Rises last year – there, the anti-semitism at least seems debatable, versus Pound. I’m totally down with rereading – it’s a different experience, knowing the book start to finish, when you start page one. I’m also using a really broad definition of politics in that the act of writing is political – that experimental (or whatever you want to call it) writing could be viewed as a potlical act in that you’re choosing to work in a form outside the status quo, or that react in some way with the way we’re taught by ‘mainstream’ sources how narratives should be represented.
Yeah, it’s a tough call, i think when the *work* contains stuff like that, is tough – I reread Sun Also Rises last year – there, the anti-semitism at least seems debatable, versus Pound. I’m totally down with rereading – it’s a different experience, knowing the book start to finish, when you start page one. I’m also using a really broad definition of politics in that the act of writing is political – that experimental (or whatever you want to call it) writing could be viewed as a potlical act in that you’re choosing to work in a form outside the status quo, or that react in some way with the way we’re taught by ‘mainstream’ sources how narratives should be represented.
your university allows jews??
i like pound’s stuff a lot, more so then most of the early 20th century poets.
holy shit i just came across hurston’s their eyes are watching god, her language is sensual and beautiful. i heard an audio and it wasnt her voice but wow. the words were amazing.
your university allows jews??
i like pound’s stuff a lot, more so then most of the early 20th century poets.
holy shit i just came across hurston’s their eyes are watching god, her language is sensual and beautiful. i heard an audio and it wasnt her voice but wow. the words were amazing.
funniest shit ever.
my 7 yr old daughter just heard the tune for deck the halls on the tv and she started singing then she said. girls dont have balls dad. why does holly have balls.
funniest shit ever.
my 7 yr old daughter just heard the tune for deck the halls on the tv and she started singing then she said. girls dont have balls dad. why does holly have balls.
I like your 7 yr old’s way of thinking.
I like your 7 yr old’s way of thinking.
pound did radio broadcasts during WWII didn’t he? i thought i read the radio broadcasts is what eventually got him into trouble, not his writing.
i liked pound’s ‘abc of reading’. particularly the part where he talked about not reading other writers prior to writing to mitigate influence on one’s own work.
he followed that up with ‘jane austin is the only author one can read before writing, she is so bland and uninspiring that no influential forces are there’ (i am paraphrasing).
he is still a pretentious ass hat and i find his work boring sometimes.
pound did radio broadcasts during WWII didn’t he? i thought i read the radio broadcasts is what eventually got him into trouble, not his writing.
i liked pound’s ‘abc of reading’. particularly the part where he talked about not reading other writers prior to writing to mitigate influence on one’s own work.
he followed that up with ‘jane austin is the only author one can read before writing, she is so bland and uninspiring that no influential forces are there’ (i am paraphrasing).
he is still a pretentious ass hat and i find his work boring sometimes.
pretentious ass hat. Nice wording. I don’t know his work well at all. Haven’t read him in eons. But I did read some of his radio broadcasts cause Matt K linked it here (see above a way). He was SUPER crazy. Like, talking about the “kikes”. Conspiracies of jews ruining the world crap.NUTS.
I liked Mansfield Park. I liked Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibilty, but Mansfield Park the best. I liked it cause it had real darkness in it and how it implicated the English in the slave trade. They get all high and mighty like “we never had slavery”, but man, they made money selling people.
pretentious ass hat. Nice wording. I don’t know his work well at all. Haven’t read him in eons. But I did read some of his radio broadcasts cause Matt K linked it here (see above a way). He was SUPER crazy. Like, talking about the “kikes”. Conspiracies of jews ruining the world crap.NUTS.
I liked Mansfield Park. I liked Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibilty, but Mansfield Park the best. I liked it cause it had real darkness in it and how it implicated the English in the slave trade. They get all high and mighty like “we never had slavery”, but man, they made money selling people.
pr but you are a spinster woman. of course you like that stuff.
pr but you are a spinster woman. of course you like that stuff.
damn straight.
damn straight.
I’d like to get Steve’s poems out in a giant edition before he dies. Bukowski was a very good friend of mine. He was proud of being a nazi, even though he was part jewish. I found that a little hard to take. And it was very bad for business. Look at my next Steve Richmond piece to see if Bukowski died a natural death. Right now heading for Iran. BP
I’d like to get Steve’s poems out in a giant edition before he dies. Bukowski was a very good friend of mine. He was proud of being a nazi, even though he was part jewish. I found that a little hard to take. And it was very bad for business. Look at my next Steve Richmond piece to see if Bukowski died a natural death. Right now heading for Iran. BP
Friends don’t write biographies of friends, in my opinion, Ben. And there was nothing friendly in your depiction of him, which is fine, if you are not his friend. I have friends. I hope you do, too. As long as you have some corroboration –which I do believe exists- than fine. But “friend”? All I get from that article is envy and dislike. That is not friendship. It’s something else altogether, which maybe you should give some though to- it would make a great book on the Buk.
Friends don’t write biographies of friends, in my opinion, Ben. And there was nothing friendly in your depiction of him, which is fine, if you are not his friend. I have friends. I hope you do, too. As long as you have some corroboration –which I do believe exists- than fine. But “friend”? All I get from that article is envy and dislike. That is not friendship. It’s something else altogether, which maybe you should give some though to- it would make a great book on the Buk.