Tag Archives: performance

On Language and Connection via S.P. Bailey’s “spark”

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Anthology Poet Highlight 46/82: S.P. Bailey, “spark” Even though it’s short, S.P. (Shawn) Bailey’s “spark” has potential for diverse readings—even moreso, I think, because it’s not punctuated. This places greater emphasis on the words and the lines themselves and invites readers to contemplate how these words and lines work together as a series of signs and sounds, arranged by the… Read more »

Fire in the Pasture Turns Two

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Two years ago today Peculiar Pages released Fire in the Pasture. Publishing the anthology was a watershed experience for me, for many of its contributors, and for Mormon poetry. It might be immodest of me to claim the latter if I wasn’t just reiterating what a trusted voice in Mormon arts has said. Glen Nelson of Mormon Artists Group has… Read more »

Public Uses of Poetry: Two AML Proposals

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I submitted two proposals for this year’s AML Conference, both poetry-centered, of course. Here they are: Proposal 1: Live Poetry Anthology: Mormon Poets Read (Two full sessions) Based on the success of the two poetry reading panels I organized for last year’s AML Conference, I approached my poet friends to see if there was any interest in organizing more readings… Read more »

“This Guy Can Walk on Anything”: Dayna Patterson’s “Our Lord Jesus in Drag”

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Poet Highlight: Dayna Patterson, “Our Lord Jesus in Drag” In my sonnet “On Crucifixion by J. Kirk Richards,” I use the practice of cross-dressing as an analogue for Christ condescending from godhood to put on mortality: “When God cross-dresses in death,” I say, “does / the universe blush?” In her poem, “Our Lord Jesus in Drag,” Dayna also offers a… Read more »

Situating Sonosophy: De/Constructing Alex Caldiero’s Poetarium

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Back in April, I presented some of my recent research on Alex Caldiero’s performance poetics at the annual conference for the Association for Mormon Letters. Since then I’ve been thick in the middle of preparing for, then taking (and passing!), my comprehensive exams for my doctoral degree. Now it’s time to dig into that dissertation, which is on Alex’s work…. Read more »

My 2012 AML Conference Proposal

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I just submitted this proposal for next year’s Association for Mormon Letters Conference. The conference theme: “Going Forth Into All the World: Mormon Literature in an International Church.” I hope it tastes international enough for the organizers’ palate. * * * “Situating Sonosophy: De/constructing Alex Caldiero’s ‘Poetarium.’” Contemporary Utah poet Alex Caldiero‘s performative mode of poetry and poetics, which he… Read more »

Language—and Beyond Language: Lisa Bickmore’s “Dog Aria”

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Anthology Poet Highlight 23/82: Lisa Bickmore, “Dog Aria” Lisa’s poem is about a dog. And not about a dog. On the surface the poet narrates her dachsund’s relationship with water and with song, showing the canine “baying adagio,” swimming “among the staves”—the movements of the sprinklers, the dishwasher, the washing machine—as the hush of water grows thick in his ears… Read more »

Alex Caldiero’s “Seeing a Body”: The Shape Sound Makes

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Anthology Poet Highlight 20/82: Alex Caldiero, “Seeing a Body” This poem, which I’ve taken to calling “Seeing a Body” for ease of reference, melds performance and content in order to compel an awareness of the body’s connection to the earth and to language and sound—even to compel an awareness of the body’s connection to the earth and to tradition through… Read more »

On Deja Earley Playing “Housewife for Halloween”

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Anthology Poet Highlight 14/82: Deja Earley, “Housewife for Halloween“ Deja has published a number of poems on the web (see here, here, and here for starters). But I thought “Housewife for Halloween” was an appropriate choice for the day. I like it 1) for its brevity–it’s only four lines long–and 2) because it made me laugh, especially as I consider… Read more »

“Not Satisfaction, but Its Proxies”: Javen Tanner’s Curses For Your Sake

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Anthology Poet Highlight 10/82: Javen Tanner, Curses For Your Sake “The title of Tanner’s chapbook frames well the experience captured in his lyric narrative poems. Extracted from the decree God directed towards Adam and Eve at the moment he expelled them from the Garden of Eden, the phrase ‘curses for your sake’ (see Gen. 3:17) suggests that moral paradox and… Read more »