Blog
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Jesse Helms and Jane’s Addiction
One reason why I’m currently researching Jane’s Addiction is because their show I attended on November 13, 1990 in Chapel Hill, N.C. was a week after the first Senate race of Jesse Helms v. Harvey Gantt, who was an African-American architect that led the race the whole time before barely losing at the end, after…
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“This is Why” by Tracy K. Smith
Here’s the first paragraph of Tracy K. Smith‘s introduction to American Journal, an extraordinary new collection of 50 poems by 50 living poets selected by her. I think hers is the best explanation for this kind of work that I’ve ever read. And I believe it applies to all sorts of documentary poetry, not just writing.…
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Paperback of Gene Smith’s Sink with New (Original) Cover
The paperback edition of Gene Smith’s Sink came out last week. The cover, I just learned today when I opened a box of them, is the one we (me, my editor, the designer) strongly preferred for the hardback, with no images. It’s a literary book, we argued, not a photography book. But the higher-ups overrode…
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Sink at Big Ears 2018
This photograph just in from longtime collaborator Kate Joyce in Santa Fe. She made it just after the Gene Smith’s Sink event at Big Ears. Jason Moran and Rachel Grimes played piano tunes intermixed with my readings and Jem Cohen’s short film based on a chapter in my book. I’m lucky to be able to work with…
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Homage to Nicole Rudick
Today is Nicole Rudick’s last day as managing editor of The Paris Review, a job she’s held for eight years. She’s moving on to her own writing including finishing a book. Her new era is exciting, but it gives me pause to look back. I wouldn’t be the writer I am today if it hadn’t…
