Flarf poetry
Encyclopedia
Flarf poetry can be characterized as an avant garde poetry movement of the late 20th century and the early 21st century. Its first practitioners used an aesthetic dedicated to the exploration of “the inappropriate” in all of its guises. Their method, adapted from a technique of Drew Gardner's, was to mine the Internet
with odd search terms then distill the results into often hilarious and sometimes disturbing poems, plays, and other texts. The term Flarf was coined by the poet Gary Sullivan, who also wrote the earliest Flarf poetry. Pioneers of the movement include Katie Degentesh, Drew Gardner, Nada Gordon, Sharon Mesmer
, Mel Nichols, K. Silem Mohammad, Michael Magee, Rodney Koeneke, Rod Smith
, Gary Sullivan and others.
wrote in the Constant Critic:
Dan Hoy wrote in Jacket Magazine:
In 2007, Barrett Watten
, a poet and cultural critic, long associated with the so-called Language poets
observed that:
Discussion about Flarf has been broadcast by the BBC
and NPR
and published in magazines such as The Atlantic, Bookforum
, The Constant Critic, Jacket, The Nation
, Rain Taxi and The Village Voice
. Further discussion has taken place on dozens of blogs and listservs across the United States, and in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Mexico, and elsewhere.
Flarf vs. Conceptualism controversy
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
with odd search terms then distill the results into often hilarious and sometimes disturbing poems, plays, and other texts. The term Flarf was coined by the poet Gary Sullivan, who also wrote the earliest Flarf poetry. Pioneers of the movement include Katie Degentesh, Drew Gardner, Nada Gordon, Sharon Mesmer
Sharon Mesmer
Sharon Mesmer is an American writer. Born in Chicago, she moved in 1988 to New York City and has since made the east coast her home. She is a two time New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in poetry...
, Mel Nichols, K. Silem Mohammad, Michael Magee, Rodney Koeneke, Rod Smith
Rod Smith (poet)
Rod Smith, who was born in Gallipolis, Ohio in 1962, is an American poet, editor and publisher. He grew up in Northern Virginia and moved to Washington, DC in 1987. Smith has authored several collections of poetry, including In Memory of My Theories, Protective Immediacy, and Music or Honesty. He...
, Gary Sullivan and others.
Overview
Joyelle McSweeneyJoyelle McSweeney
Joyelle McSweeney is a poet, critic, and professor at the University of Notre Dame. Her books include Nylund, the Sarcographer , as well as Flet, The Red Bird, and The Commandrine and Other Poems, the latter three published by Fence Books...
wrote in the Constant Critic:
Dan Hoy wrote in Jacket Magazine:
In 2007, Barrett Watten
Barrett Watten
Barrett Watten is an American poet, editor, and educator often associated with the Language poets.Since 1994, Watten has taught modernism and cultural studies at Wayne State University in Detroit...
, a poet and cultural critic, long associated with the so-called Language poets
Language poets
The Language poets are an avant garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
observed that:
Discussion about Flarf has been broadcast by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
and published in magazines such as The Atlantic, Bookforum
Bookforum
Bookforum is a New York-based magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. It is edited by Albert Mobilio, Chris Lehmann, , and Michael Miller.-History: Bookforum was launched in 1994 as a literary supplement to Artforum...
, The Constant Critic, Jacket, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, Rain Taxi and The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
. Further discussion has taken place on dozens of blogs and listservs across the United States, and in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Mexico, and elsewhere.
See also
- Cut-up techniqueCut-up techniqueThe cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
- SpoetrySpoetrySpoetry or spoems are poetic verses made primarily from the subject lines of spam e-mail messages.-What is spoetry?:It is unknown as to when the first spoem was started as several writers and bloggers have claimed to have created the form. However, it is estimated that the idea began in 1999 as...
- Googlism
- Informationist poetryInformationist poetryInformationist poetry was a literary movement of the 1990s in Scotland. The poets usually associated with this movement are: Richard Price – who coined the term in 1991 in the magazine Interference – Robert Crawford, W. N...
- Spam LitSpam LitSpam Lit is defined as snippets of nonsensical verse and prose embedded in spam e-mail messages...
- Word salad (computer science)Word salad (computer science)Word salad is a mixture of random words that, while arranged in phrases that appear to give them meaning, actually carry no significance. The words may or may not be grammatically correct, but the meaning is hopelessly confused...
Poems on-line
- FLARF: MAINSTREAM Poetry for a MAINSTREAM World a weblog, active since January 2003, devoted to the poetics of flarf
- Flarf Feature at Jacket Magazine includes work from some of this movement's more recognizable practitioners including: Jordan Davis, Katie Degentesh, Benjamin Friedlander, Drew Gardner, Nada Gordon, Rodney Koeneke, Michael Magee, Sharon MesmerSharon MesmerSharon Mesmer is an American writer. Born in Chicago, she moved in 1988 to New York City and has since made the east coast her home. She is a two time New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in poetry...
, K. Silem Mohammad, Rod SmithRod Smith (poet)Rod Smith, who was born in Gallipolis, Ohio in 1962, is an American poet, editor and publisher. He grew up in Northern Virginia and moved to Washington, DC in 1987. Smith has authored several collections of poetry, including In Memory of My Theories, Protective Immediacy, and Music or Honesty. He...
, & Gary Sullivan - Poetry Magazine feature Flarf is Dionysus. Conceptual Writing is Apollo. An introduction to the 21st Century's most controversial poetry movements.
Audio & textual practice: essays and discussion
- The Flarf Files @ the Electronic Poetry Center
- The Virtual Dependency of the Post-Avant and the Problematics of Flarf an article by Dan Hoy at Jacket Magazine
- O, You Cosh-Boned Posers! this essay from the Village Voice is subtitled: "Awful poems sought and found: From spam to Google, flarf redefines random"
- "The New Pandemonium" essay on flarf by Rick Snyder
- "Googling Flarf" by Michael Gottlieb
- Ron Silliman on Michael Magee's My Angie Dickinson
- Studio 360: Schreiber, Flarf, Redman discussions, interviews, and readings of flarf poetry
- "Can Flarf Ever Be Taken Seriously?" article in Poets and Writers
- Petroleum Hat The Constant Critic's Joyelle McSweeney reviews Drew Gardner's "Petroleum Hat"
- Flarf: Poetry Meme-Surfs With Kanye West and the LOLCats Article on Flarf in The Atlantic
- Flarf Poetry Flarf primer on Bookforum featuring reviews of "The Anger Scale" by Katie Degentesh, "Petroleum Hat" by Drew Gardner, "Folly" by Nada Gordon, "Musee Mechanique" by Rodney Koeneke, "My Angie Dickinson" by Michael Magee, "Annoying Diabetic Bitch" by Sharon MesmerSharon MesmerSharon Mesmer is an American writer. Born in Chicago, she moved in 1988 to New York City and has since made the east coast her home. She is a two time New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in poetry...
. "Deer Head Nation" by K. Silem Mohammad, & "PPL in a Depot" by Gary Sullivan - "On Flarf" by Rachel Hyman
Flarf vs. Conceptualism controversy
- Why Conceptualism is Better than Flarf: Vanessa Place Poet and lawyer Vanessa Place's talk recorded on March 11, 2010 at AWPAssociation of Writers & Writing ProgramsThe Association of Writers & Writing Programs is a literary organization whose mission is "to foster literary talent and achievement, to advance the art of writing as essential to a good education, and to serve the makers, teachers, students, and readers of contemporary writing."-Members:AWP...
2010: Denver, "Flarf & Conceptual Poetry Panel"- Why Flarf is better than Conceptualism by Drew Gardner K. Silem Mohammad has called this piece "Drew Gardner's answer to Vanessa Place"
- conceptual or literal? American poet-critic weighs in on the controversy