A (Final) Semester in the Life of a Low-Res MFA Student: The Reading List

Following is my reading list for the Fall Correspondence Semester in the New England College MFA in Poetry Program. The four areas of study are mostly my choice. The reading list is jointly designed with the input of my faculty advisor, Ira Sadoff. (NOTE: Not every book in each packet corresponds with that packet's goal. Also, I'll be reading the Old Testament over the course of the entire semester.)

Packet # 1: Crafting the Long Line (August)

1. CK Williams, TAR.
2. DA Powell, TEA
3. Adelia Prado, ALPHABET IN THE PARK
4. The Old Testament (King James Version) - whole semester
5. Nicanor Parra POEMS AND ANTI-POEMS
6. Ira Sadoff THE IRA SADOFF READER

Packet # 2: Irony in Social Commentary (September)

7. Rodney Jones, APOCALYPTIC NARRATIVE AND OTHER POEMS
8. Dolores Kendrick, WOMEN OF PLUMS, POEMS IN THE VOICES OF SLAVE WOMEN
9. Toni Morrison, PLAYING IN THE DARK: WHITENESS AND THE LITERARY IMAGINATION
10. Patrick Rosal, UPROCK HEADSPIN
11. Robert Stepto, FROM BEHIND THE VEIL: A STUDY OF AFRO-AMERICAN NARRATIVE
12. Major Jackson, HOOPS

Packet #3: Line Break (October)

13. James Tate, THE LOST PILOT (neo-surrealism)
14. Frank O’Hara, THE SELECTED POEMS OF FRANK O’HARA
15. Yannis Ritsos, tr. William Keeley
16. Fernando Pesso SELECTED POEMS, tr. E. Honig
17. Rafael Alberti, THE OWL’S INSOMNIA
18. Nazim Hikmet THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW I LOVED

Packet #4: Writing for Performance (November)

19. Jo Bonney (editor), EXTREME EXPOSURE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF SOLO PERFORMANCE TEXTS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
20. William Shakespeare, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
21. Robert Hass, PRAISE
22. Susan Mitchell, RAPTURE
23. Cesar Vallejo, SELECTED POEMS tr. Wright and Bly or Alistair Reid
24. Pablo Neruda, Selected POEMS tr. Wright and Bly or Alistair Reid

Recovering your personal DNA

IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I blogged about my employment situation. Here's an update. After 4 lateral moves, I received my first promotion in January.

Before you congratulate me, I should tell you that I've been working at this company for 10 years. I first walked through its doors in September 1995 at age 21. As I'm not feeling terribly creative these days, I don't have many words to describe the new position, but the words living hell do come to mind.

Anyway, as I approach the final stretch of this marathon before entering the stadium - feet bloody, dehydrated, delirious - I look for constant signs to remind me of who I am. Today, I took a Personal DNA test which says I am a

Respectful Director

Here's a link to my results in more detail: My Personal Dna Report
Here's a link if you want to take the test yourself.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED #36: THE BEATDOWN

SHE WAS TOO CHICKEN to play me one-on-one. So, I had to give a double-beatdown A-town style during our June residency in the New England College MFA in Poetry:

AYO: 241
ISSA: 209
T_RA: 148

Mission accomplished #36: Beat T_ra Betts in Scrabble

That would be 93 points, T_ra. Ninety-three, without even adding your and Issa's unplayed tiles! But who's counting?

Imagine the beating if you didn't have Issa to buffer my booyakuhs!

Look at the bright side, T_ra. At least I saved you the embarrassment of posting both of your defeats. Oops, did I say that? In January, maybe you two should play me 2 on 1. But let me stop before I'm accused of trash talking.

Oh well, too late!