Statement for St. Mark's Poetry Project Newsletter | Rodrigo
Toscano  (Nada Gordon and Gary Sullivan, Editors)    Mexican
poet Gabriel Zaid, in a recent essay, calls for a "total
poetry"-that is, a poetry fully integrated into one's work,
politics, love life, recreational pursuits, "daily life," etc.
Do you aspire to have your poetic practice encompass and/or
spring from all aspects of life and experience?  If yes, how and
to what extent have you succeeded in doing so?  If no, what
kinds of parameters do you set for your poetic practice?  * * *
First, some queries of my own-with "answers" (imbedded polemics)
frontloaded. Aren't poets in the U.S. (where most of the forum
participants are writing from) already writing "about"
everything under the sun? Their cockatoo's, their eminent third-
uncle bassoonists, their filmic (gaussy or pixilated) rushing
rivers, etc-  And how is this not all "integrated"-or could we
ever imagine it not being so in our lives' practices? Already
there's no writing that exists at a r