Andy Fitch’s 60 Morning Talks, from Ugly Duckling Presse, is essential reading for fans of contemporary #poetry

Andy Fitch’s 60 Morning Talks, from Ugly Duckling Presse, is essential reading for anyone with an interest in contemporary poetry. The premise is this: Fitch interviewed 60 poets about their most recent work, exploring language (and l=a=n=g=u=a=g=e), the future of print, the state of poetry, and anything in between. Talks belongs on your bookshelf right beside I Wanted to Write a Poem, a transcript of a conversation between Edith Heal and William Carlos Williams about all of his published works (and anything and everything in between). Both books are about poetics, and both books are transcripts, and both lay bare, or at least attempt to, the machinery of inspiration, language and presentation.

Fitch eschews academic pretentiousness. He doesn’t open Talks with an essay, or a thesis, he just gives us the interviews, the questions, and the answers. Reading Talks is like reading a script, or listening to a conversation (it would make a great independent film--or series of youtube clips).  At times, some of the writers who dialogue with Fitch put on airs, or perhaps over

indulge their own artistic and intellectual tendencies, but keep in mind fair reader, my own personal tastes for dialogue about poesy skew towards a more working class, anti-exclusive, anti-establishment diction, but I’m digressing, for I found it thrilling to read conversations between poets so passionate about their own work. Make no mistake, this is a book for poets, linguists, philosophers, and writers, not for the general casual poetry reading public.

Talks is structurally setup for short reads. It’s easy to digest a short conversation, skip the ones that bore you. The short interviews make it palpable for the subway commute, the gym, or even the bathroom. You can get your poetics on in short metered doses. For poets with a traditional background, Talks reads like a who’s who of experimental art over the last century. For those poets with an experimental background, Talks should affirm, and remind you of the weird, and wonderful rebelliousness and restlessness of the last century of art, as well as point you into the direction of where it all might be headed.

Talks reveals as much about Fitch as it does the writers profiled. Fitch loves Gertrude Stein, a reference point for so many of the interviews, and Fitch loves structure, hidden structure, and new ways poets can stretch the concept of structure utilizing technology.  The opening talk between digital poet Amaranth Borusk and Fitch explores how the reader/viewer engages in the text and structure of his book Between the Page and Screen during performances. How the reader manipulates meaning, how the act of holding the “book” at certain angles, etc, would create and change meaning and form. Fascinating stuff.

The conceptual ideas behind many of the works discussed in Talks is as interesting as the content.  One talk with Srikanth Reddy centers around appropriated text.  The conversation with Amanda Nadelberg focuses on the book length poem. Poet Tyrone Williams discuss with Fitch the importance of the Black Arts Movement. Fitch is interested in it all, and his own passion for the genre and where it has been and where it is going is front and center. 60 Morning Talks is a perfect read to celebrate National Poetry Month.