Can anyone suggest...

[clive]

...a website, or a publication or anything which would tell me a bit about L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry? I'm trying to expand my poetic horizons by looking into things I've always thought I probably won't like - if you get my drift. All suggestions gratefully received. Thanks in advance,

Clive

[Adam]

Hi clive,

The Norton Anthology of Postmodern American Poetry covers language poetry to an extent, explaining some theory and providing selections from several of the more well-known (American) language poets. Also has some nice essays in the back justifying and explaining a great deal of the poetry that you “probably won’t like”. heh. But it’s a very interesting book, and I’m sure you could find it somewhere in a London library. Amazon sells it for about $24, I think. (For some reason they aren’t trying to sell it for a full $40).

Adam

[Mandolin]

Marjorie Perloff is one of the major figures in the theory of L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E poetry. You can find a good swath of her work <A HREF="http://wings.buffalo.edu/epc/authors/perloff/">here</A>. The Poetry Etc. mailing list, maintained by John Kinsella, has quite a lot of discussion on the topic.

Personally I think it's sole worth is as a tenure-generating strategy.

[clive]

Thank you both. Well, I've scanned a bit of it and so far, my instincts have been proven correct - quelle crappe pretentieux! Nevertheless, I shall soldier on, as a kind of torture training.

Clive