Ron Silliman's remarks about the school of quietude and the "soft" surrealism of the 60s seem very thoughtful to me. I know this might seem old hat by now. We have been hearing similar arguments for more than a decade. Yet the idea that poetry has to be safe and dull still persists in the middle-brow culture, in NPR-land. If I had a funny accent I could be an NPR Commentator like Codrescu or that "cowboy poet."

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I saw a book in Border's yesterday. Daniel Kane on the Lower East Side poetry scene of the 1960s, with accompanying cd. New from UC Press. I'm going to get it after spring break.