From the category archives:

Memory

Reciting your own poems from memory is for supernerds, or the worst project of my life

Thumbnail image for Reciting your own poems from memory is for supernerds, or the worst project of my life March 30, 2010

Concerning all the recent discussions about memory, recitation, etc, I thought I would try it in my own way. I should disclose that I never recite my own poems from memory at readings. I think it is corny, weird, it makes me uncomfortable, and frankly, to spend that much time memorizing your own work is kind of sick.

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On Memorization: Some Thoughts on “Owning” Your Own Work

Thumbnail image for On Memorization: Some Thoughts on “Owning” Your Own Work March 16, 2010

When I was 19 I interned at The Bowery Poetry Club. I can tell you that I didn’t get much done in the way of writing press releases; I was there to experience poetry. I was there to meet the real live poets who didn’t seem to exist on my college campus. I attended a private Long Island university where writing poetry meant none of the business student boys wanted to date me and most of the frat guys thought a stanza was a complicated version of the keg stand. Therefore, at The Bowery Poetry Club, I thought I was going to find what I was looking for: Poets Who Took Poetry Seriously.

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