Feb 25, 2013 0
May 1, 2012 1
THE EMERALD TABLET: the poetry of carl wiener, jack hirschman and w.b. yeats
The Emerald Tablet hosted a gathering in celebration of the exhibit Cinque Primavera, with music by George Long and readings by Carl Wiener and Jack Hirschman.
They’re starting to have events there every Friday night – it’s a really rich scene, though you would add to it. Maybe this is that healthy impetus Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 6, 2011 0
OCCUPY NOW: the avant-garde is the people
The avant-garde is the people of the world. Never more in my adult life have I realized that the avant-garde is the people of the earth [than] now. No artists, no movement—art movement—can come that will be superior to this motion that’s happened with people all over the world to change the world. Finally. Finally and at last. I’m not talking to idiots. You’ve all felt this! You’ve felt it in your life—don’t tell me you haven’t. You’ve felt it many times in your life. You might have it good, but you’ve seen people eating out of trash cans. I’ve seen grandmothers getting cans so they can make a few dollars. Come on! And we’re supposed to be a society of fairness and democracy. Please! It’s not so. But now has begun a moment that actually is the democratic movement in the world. And that’s why I can only say as a poet I put my words in relation to that. That’s what the poet’s imagination should be.
— Jack Hirschman in conversation with Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Peter Selz at Meridian Gallery on November 4th, 2011.
The Q&A followed a couple of readings, which Ferlinghetti “was told to keep… short so we could have a good bullshit session.” The conversation dealt exclusively with the Occupy movement.
Nov 2, 2011 0
FRIDAY, 11/4: books that tickle the neurons, a celebration of patchen, and ferlinghetti + hirschman
This has been a great week! Maybe you’re starting to remember what you did for Halloween. Maybe you celebrated at Guinevere Q’s (last) Variety Show Sunday and took the day off (copycat, then). Tuesday might have seen you any number of ways, and Wednesday… check out footage from Keely Hyslop‘s release party (I only hope you missed it if you went to see Mary Roach talk with Adam Savage, and if so I demand a report on the Litseen desk before you sleep, cutcopycat). Read the rest of this entry »
Oct 30, 2011 2
TUESDAY, 11/1: politics + passion, on the road, epic fail
Switch costumes with political, scientific, or nostalgic consequence and Tuesday’s all yours: Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 23, 2011 2
THURSDAYS AT READERS: jack hirschman on the point of a reading series
In Japan, Jack Hirschman would surely be designated as a “Living National Treasure.” In America, he should at least receive honors at the Kennedy Center. But alas, it is America after all. But San Francisco, I am happy to say, appreciates its own treasure: Hirschman was appointed San Francisco Poet Laureate from 2006 through 2009, and continues to be honored as poet in residence for the Friends of the San Francisco Library, for whom he curates and hosts the reading series Thursdays At Readers as well as organizes Poets 11 and the San Francisco International Poetry Festival.
A few days after attending Thursdays At Readers on Aug 4, he and I sat down together at Cafe Trieste in North Beach (famously, his “office” for many years) to talk about the series and the poetry scene in general. Read the rest of this entry »
Aug 21, 2011 2
WEEK IN REVIEW: the seed of chaos and the conspiracy of art
As I set out to write about this past week something unexpected happened: my conscious mind admitted that no matter how loud it is, insistent and commanding, controlling, it really is but the chauffeur of my subconscious. All my drives and deeds the constant need to subsume it. I know best, I say; I push the days forward with all of my might, and push with my pushing way into the night; I know best that I am tired.
O subconscious, divulge to Litseen the ever-sinking, manifold meanings of Litseen. Reveal the memorrhaging of roadside headlights in deermind. Still on road, keep moving! Portend the pre-teloi, so we may peer into mirror and find Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 31, 2011 0
WEEK IN REVIEW: you will be connected shortly. thank you for clicking
Sitting on the floor in a Chinatown hole underlining O Powerful Western Star with lead, Jack Hirschman beside me, Sarah Page smiling a beautiful full moon smile, focaccia on the table for this cultural happening (thanks, Rose Pistola), we-put-the-North-Beach-in-Chinatown wine flowing freely, saxophone flowing freely, chairs rocking, plastic cups of burgundy touching, toasting, i filming…
It is the work of the living artist to create mythologies we can live in, fictions which spring, not from the domineering behavior of Madison Avenue—an imperialism of the mind—but from the truth of the living heart. … Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 24, 2011 0
WEEK IN PREVIEW: push fall over breathe get up dance
Featured Event: Saturday, July 30th - Bay Area Poetry Marathon
Marathon is right. What used to be a weekend-long event in Boston has transformed into a momentous event in the Bay. With brief author introductions and a loooooong reading, this edition of The Bay Area Poetry Marathon features a wonderful lineup of up-and-coming and experimental authors, including Maxine Chernoff, Kevin Killian, and Dean Rader. For more information, read this profile or check out this review of their last show. Read the rest of this entry »
Jul 3, 2011 0
WEEK IN PREVIEW: more than two generations
Featured Event: Thursday, July 7th Epicenter w/Interdisciplinary Writers Lab
Through the Interdisciplinary Writers Lab, a group of emerging writers from the Bay Area have been conducting literary experiments under the guidance of established artists—crossbreeding genres and dabbling in new forms. This Thursday they reveal their results and celebrate the launch of Chicken Skin and Impossible Trees, the 2011 online anthology. Featured readers include: Indira Allegra, Maria Allocco, Erika Cespedes-Kent, Elwin Cotman, Sarah Dailey, Will Gutierrez, Lisa Hsia, Nayomi Munaweera, Jen Palmares Meadows, Ronald Ragin and Jenny Strauss. Read the rest of this entry »
Jun 5, 2011 1
WEEK IN PREVIEW: lightning never strikes twice
Featured event: Quiet Lightning: Neighborhood Heroes, v.3
When was the last time you saw Tamim Ansary, D.A. Powell, Meg Day, Jack Boulware, Jane Ganahl, Rob Brezsny, Steven Gray, Caitlin Myer, Graham Gremore, and William Taylor Jr. on the same stage? Come on. When is the last time you saw them in the same room? Never. I repeat. Never. And, you never will if you miss Quiet Lightning‘s show tomorrow, Monday June 6th. A series so badass, Matthew-James DeCoster once changed his flight to make it in time (and it wasn’t even a Neighborhood Heroes show)! It should go without saying that “momentous” doesn’t really do the occasion justice. Read the rest of this entry »
