Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (“ModPo”) Blog

neo-formalists / week 5

Adrienne Rich, “In a Classroom”

Talking of poetry, hauling the booksarm-full to the table where the headsbend or gaze upward, listening, reading aloud,talking of consonants, elision,caught in the how, oblivious of why:I look in your face, Jude,neither frowning nor...

week 9

Joan Retallack, “None Too Soon”

Here is Joan Retallack’s poem “None Too Soon.” And here is a recording that was made at a 2013 reading at Zinc Bar in New York and is available at the Retallack PennSound page:...

week 8

images of Robert Grenier’s “Sentences”

Here are several links in which one can get an overview of Robert Grenier’s Sentences: — Introduction and image of the box: LINK — Granary Press entry on Sentences, including images of the box...

week 9

texts of 3 poems from Joan Retallack’s Bosch series

Here are three poems from Retallack’s Bosch series: 1. “The Ventriloquist’s Dilemma”: see text below 2. “None Too Soon”: LINK 3. “The Long And Short of It Thought Experiment”: LINK —– The Ventriloquist’s Dilemma...

week 5

C. D. Wright: 4 poems from “One Big Self”

Here are four poems from Wright’s book One Big Self that formed the basis of the conversation recorded in an episode of PoemTalk: “Count Heads”: LINK “Count Your Fingers”: LINK “I want to go...

SloPo / week 9

Joan Retallack SloPo mini-course (Jan 6-20, 2023)

Welcome to the SloPo mini-course on the writings of Joan Retallack. If at any time you have questions about how our mini-course is working, please don’t hesitate to contact Al Filreis at afilreis@writing.upenn.edu. Our...