The First Annual Leslie Scalapino Memorial Lecture in Innovative Poetics

I am very pleased to announce that the First Annual Leslie Scalapino Memorial Lecture in Innovative Poetics will take place on Friday, May 27th at Timkin Hall, and we at Small Press Traffic are deeply honored to welcome Joan Retallack as its first presenter! The Leslie Scalapino Memorial Lecture in Innovative Poetics is an annual lecture series with a focus on critical analysis of innovative poetry, essays, plays and cross-genre work primarily by women poets. The series invites contemporary writers to present their work in the spirit exemplified by Scalapino’s own critical writing and editorial vision as publisher of O Books.

In anticipation of Joan's visit I've been rereading her rich body of work with relish, starting with Errata 5uite (Edge Books, 1993) and Afterrimages (Wesleyan, 1995) and slowly making my way to newer work like Memnoir (Post Apollo, 2004) and Procedural Elegies / Western Civ Cont'd (Roof, 2010). I'm also diving into her interviews with John Cage (her questions alone make the text an intriguing read: "Do we need an art that is not identical with the things that surround us in everyday life, but can somehow draw our attention to them?") and her essays in The Poethical Wager. I'll post notes here as I slowly piece together an introduction for her talk. In the meantime, here's my favorite poem from How to Do Things With Words (Sun & Moon, 1998), "Here's Looking at You Francis Bacon" (click the arrow in the top-right corner for full screen).



Please help us spread the word about this crucial new lecture series!

The First Annual Leslie Scalapino Memorial Lecture
in Innovative Poetics
Featuring Joan Retallack
Friday, May 27th, 7:30 PM
Timkin Hall at CCA
1111 8th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Admission: $8-15 (Members Free)
 
And while we're on the subject, please take a moment to check out the beautiful new website devoted to Leslie's life and work!