The Fanatical Politicization of Art and Poetry

I spent a considerable portion of my late teens to mid 20s immersed in the study of twentieth century poetry. Deeply interested in the history of Eastern and Central European experimental and avant-garde poetry, I plunged (with the obsessive energy of youth) into the hermetic "avant-garde” and underground poetry scene in New York City. My manic commitments included writing (often terrible) fledgling poems, attending as many readings as possible and cultivating relationships with the older generation of LANGUAGE and FLARF School poets. I volunteered to stitch chapbooks and translated and published ephemera in tiny literary journals and DIY publications. I should admit to printing up editions of my own juvenilia in “special” editions of two copies.