Contests
ToBS R1: flarf vs. AWP
[Matchup #4 in Tournament of Bookshit]
If my own personal feelings toward a thing had anything to do with it, flarf would win this in a landslide, but feelings are not real. Last year, I introduced a flarf poem by K. Silem Mohammad to a class of fifth grade students while teaching a poetry unit for an unpaid internship (it was the one Mohammad poem I could find without cusses or things a fifth grade teacher could get mad at me for). The students became immediately enamored with the flarf process and the possibilities of poetry that refused to do whatever it is that poetry has been expected to do since the first caveman uttered the first O! Poetry was finally fun to these kids. They wrote poems that were funny and surprising in ways that only a child or google can be surprising. But now I can’t help but imagine these children, thirty years from now, well into their poetry careers, paying $190 ($150 if they pre-register) to attend their own book-signings, getting stupidly drunk and sleeping next to a stranger in their hotel rooms, and then possibly fantasizing about responding to an htmlgiant post about whether or not they’ve gotten laid at AWP with “i can’t remember.” Then, redirecting their browser to Google, the poet will search for blog posts about their own AWP readings and find their name only in a long list form and this will happen again the next year and the next year. The poet will then go to Whole Foods or Costco and buy some food for vegans or food for cheap and carry it all back home in their ugly AWP tote bag and once back home the poet will gis “AWP” with this suggestive result.
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Winner: AWP
lol the link showed up as forty four comments. i couldn’t figure out how to link to that specific post.
calling that post 44 Comments is genius
It’s really beautiful to see the unicorn back at htmlgiant.
blarf
This was like the #1 and #2 seeds fighting it out. Either of these would have creamed anything in the West bracket — flarf has clumps of guys like the Georgia Review in its stool.
Yes.
Don’t blame the addict, blame the game.
Kudos for your intervention here.
“They wrote poems that were funny and surprising in ways that only a child or google can be surprising.”
No offense, but maybe you need more interesting friends!
Love me some Daniel Bailey!!
Daniel. I’m teaching a class of students who will be teaching that grade level creative writing. Do you have any textbook or guides advice for teaching CW to kids?
just give them activities that you think are fun. i usually had them read two poems each class and then talk briefly as a class about it. then the rest of the time was writing. also, i would let whoever wanted to share their poems share. i guess my main philosophy was get them excited about poetry instead of forcing forms or terms on them. my other philosophy was “what would peter davis do?” because that guy is awesome at teaching introductory poetry.
as for texts, i mostly just used poems that i like. one of the internship coordinator’s gave us a handout with activities and i used a few of those. elizabeth taddonio also gave me some ideas for a few others because she’s bomb at that sort of thing.
i have to finish my mfa program first lol
hahahahhahahaha
Still confused what flarf is
i had more faith in you than this daniel.
Dang, knew I shouldn’t have picked Flarf to make it out of the first round.
is what confused flarf still
ditto…though my not knowing what something is usually means it is cool. New tactic required…
Not familiar with flarf or AWP. Please define it for us, somebody. Thanks.
Great post, Daniel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flarf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Writers_%26_Writing_Programs
referring to awp usually means the conference. i don’t think i’ve ever been in a conversation about awp the organization. it’s always been about the conference.
I second the Peter Davis philosophy.
I was rooting for flarf, but this post helped me to accept AWP as the winner.
Also, I woke up next to a strange girl in my hotel room at AWP and I hadn’t been drinking, so does that almost kind of somewhat count?
Flarf is con, fused what still.