Infante's Inferno - The Pushcart Prize vs. The Internet: A Primer
Jun. 29th, 2012
07:39 pm - The Pushcart Prize vs. The Internet: A Primer
It was the barf heard round the World, or at least around Facebook and Twitter. In the introduction to the 2012 Pushcart Prize anthology, publisher Bill Henderson wrote:
I have long railed against the e-book and instant Internet publication as damaging to writers. Instant anything is dangerous—great writing takes time. You should long to be as good as John Milton and Reynolds Price, not just barf into the electronic void.
Which, of course, caused a bit of a stir among electronic publications, with some deciding to abandon the Pushcart Prize, and others deciding to stick around and fight. Here's pretty much the key blog posts in the discussion.
Luna Park was probably the first to comment on the Pushcart introduction, responding with the sympathetic but concerned, "Is Something Missing from the Pushcart Prize?"
Then, things got serious, when in reaction to Henderson's remarks, Fox Chase Review declared, "We Will No Longer Nominate to The Pushcart Prize." This one went everywhere, and was the one that got people talking.
November Sky Poetry responded with, "Publish online and kiss your Pushcart goodbye." PoetCore responded to Fox Chase's walking away from the Pushcarts with "Why Does Pushcart Hate the Internet?"
Meanwhile, a number of us who edit and publish online literary journals were seriously considering following Fox Chase's lead. Indeed, I'm sure a few will, although I've found no real public declarations to that effect. Sometimes folks just leave quietly, without making a scene.
My style, of course, is to stay and make a scene anyway, which is what I did with "They Got the Guns, But we Got the Numbers: Why Radius Will Continue to Submit to the Pushcart Prize." Staying wasn't an easy decision. A lot of my instincts were screaming to chuck it all, but you know ... I've been finding myself on the opposite side of these "Establishment vs. X" squabbles for 20 years now, and I'm a little tired of it all. Anyway, it's all in the essay. And I mean it's all in the essay.
Most recently, the extremely talented Leslie McGrath has waded into the kerfuffle over at the Best American Poetry blog, where she's got a few words to say in defense of electronic publishing in, "Tart Pie Filling: The Pushcart Prize and Online Literary Magazines."
And that's about where we stand, although I suspect we've far from heard the last on the subject.
Re Henry Rollins at Literary Death Match
Re: Re Henry Rollins at Literary Death Match
The short response: Yeah, I saw that, and I suspect that A.) Hank was really talking specifically in the context of the death matches (Which? Whatever.); and B.) Hank's own opinions are far more nuanced than an off-the cuff response. After all, he's got a long history of supporting a number of ostensible "Spoken Word" artists in Los Angeles, and actions speak much louder than off-the-cuff comments.
That being said, I want to quote something poet Tony Brown said on Facebook the other day:
Once again: Poets, STOP calling what you do "spoken word!" You have a right to the title "poet." "Spoken word" is a category originally used by the recording industry to indicate any oral performance that IS NOT POETRY. You contribute to your own ghettoization by using it...recall that for most of its existence, poetry WAS considered an oral form, a performance art. PAGE poetry, meant to be read more than heard, is the anomaly. The deviation. Not you.
I mostly share Tony's opinion. Harvey Kubernik coined the term "spoken word" to specifically describe what Hank and a few others were doing a the time in Los Angeles, which is basically a form of storytelling. Which is fine, as far as it goes. But I've always been a little uncomfortable with so many poets being so willing to abandon the title of "poet" for "spoken word artist." It's always felt like A.) They were capitulating to academics who were telling them that what they did wasn't really poetry, or B.) succumbing to an embarrassment about the term, as if it made them seem pretentious or twee or something. Both motivations strike me as a bit of a failure. I want a poetry that's both written and performed, that lives in both the streets and the universities. I want a poet to be able to call themselves a poet without embarrassment or self-consciousness. So, yeah. Not terribly fond of the phrase "spoken word," in general. Hell, I'm not even terribly fond of the phrase "performance poet." I think the word "poet" does the job just fine. Hank, of course, is entitled to his own opinions. I'd be curious to hear them at length.
And for those just joining us, the relevant blog post is here:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketc