one Asian under a groove

Cedar Sigo: Stranger in Town: It might seem the line “I write what is interesting for me to read” (in “Music for Torching”) may be interesting for us but trite to him. But the interestingness of a line can exceed that of its words: combined with context, there’s its visual appearance. In this case interest leaks upwards from the names tabbed right-of-centre and below: Anselm Hollo, Ed Dorn, both fixtures in Boulder when Sigo studied at “Buddhist-inspired” liberal arts school Naropa. Rather than overt spirituality, his inheritance is post-beat post-Black Mountain openness anchored in perception, and, more practically, attention to detail. Compare the journal version of “Showboat” to the book version (excerpted here). There are a couple of word edits, but the major changes are double-spacing and re-punctuation, with new enjambments allowing the poem to “stand a chance against the unfinished work in my desk drawer” (“The Sun”). The quote from the book version of “Showboat” has one error: the final call to “Let loose our new books and prints” has no period.

Richard Marschall: America’s Great Comic-Strip Artists: When I was a freshman this introduced me to the old newspaper comics. Not surprising that I grokked Flash Gordon immediately — its qualities are adolescent — while it might be surprising that I got Krazy Kat immediately (or maybe not, it is that great). On the other hand, I didn’t feel Polly and Her Pals until this re-read, I think because I couldn’t accept the pretty-art girl mixed in with the stylised, cartoony art. Now it seems effective in putting Polly in a different world from her folks without necessitating a value judgement. Meanwhile, I still don’t get Opper.

Federico Garcia Lorca: Odes (in Collected Poems):