Comments on: Tao Lin wins Cave Canem First Book Prize & I talk to Prize Judge Yusef Komunyakaa

By: Ploughshares // Gift with Purchase

Ploughshares // Gift with Purchase — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:35:51 +0000

[...] And in a move that would give the-collective-rage-formerly-known-as-Foetry an aneurism, Graywolf decided that the Cave Canem Prize should really go to Tao [...]

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:47:01 +0000

thank god that’s a joke. Tao Lin is as Emo as you can get. He’s the Urban Outfitters of poetry. In fact, does Urban Outfitters carry his poetry?

By: Jerry

Jerry — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:47:00 +0000

thank god that’s a joke. Tao Lin is as Emo as you can get. He’s the Urban Outfitters of poetry. In fact, does Urban Outfitters carry his poetry?

By: pr

pr — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:33:27 +0000

I love that you are gay and I really want to be your girlfriend. Can I peg you? I know I’ve said pegging is not my thing, but for you dear Steven, I just want to try something new! Like people who try the internet for the first time!

On a more serious note, I truly cannot believe that any new technology, or form of human expression, takes away from any past art form, or form of human expression. Remember when painiting was declared dead? I didn’t believe it then and it turned out not to be true. Everyone spends time in ways that are particular to their cultural time. Some people do it — and did it–by taking long walks in the woods, which I still have the great privilege to do. No one technology will ever ruin another form of expression.

By: Steven Trull

Steven Trull — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:14:01 +0000

pr? Be my girlfriend–even though I’m gay.

By: Steven Trull

Steven Trull — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:14:00 +0000

pr? Be my girlfriend–even though I’m gay.

By: pr

pr — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:06:45 +0000

This was a joke, a funny one on April Fool’s Day, and one that at least one prestigious African-American poet I know found very funny.
“Not to mention how much time the environment steals from the actual writing of poems”.
This is condescending to all poets.
This is not a generation gap observation. What it is, is common hysteria. Every new technological advance is met with this sort of silliness: the telephone, the radio, film, the television, air travel and so on. Here are some other distractions- housework, childrearing, having relationships, having jobs and exersize. Oh, then there is eating and sleeping. Gosh! I could’ve been writing a poem! Many poets well into their 50s and 60s utilize the internet to their advantage- to broaden their audience, to say the least. What you do at Cave Canem is wonderful, Ms. Meyers. And you have a very nice website that I am sure benefits your good work. But what Justin Taylor is doing for poetry is also good. Please remember that novels were once considered a terrible waste of time- when they were new- and had to be hid away by readers, because it was rot for their brains.

By: pr

pr — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:06:00 +0000

By: Alison Meyers

Alison Meyers — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:45:06 +0000

Given that the deadline to enter the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize doesn’t arrive until April 30th, everyone can be assured that this is, indeed, an April Fool’s prank. I’m ever amazed & occasionally entertained (though not this time) by the inventiveness found in the blogosphere–not to mention how much time the environment steals from the writing of actual poems. Doubtless a generation-gap observation.

By: Alison Meyers

Alison Meyers — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:45:00 +0000