Follow-Haswed by Laura Walker, Apogee Press 2012
Read MoreSomething in my heart says
Thomas Fucaloro on Sylvia Plath.
Read MoreAndy Clausen- Home of the Blues, More Selected Poems
Home of the Blues, More Selected Poems by Andy Clausen, Museum of American Poetics Publications, 2013
Read MoreI need to be
Thomas Fucaloro on Natalie Diaz
Read Morethe more eviler side of Howl
It's really interesting how just a simple edit can open doors for you. I've been studying the Ginsberg poem "Howl" and all its revisions for my seminar class at the New School. We have been really examining the second part with the introduction of "Moloch" and that crazy refrain. It's amazing how he uses sound in this piece, the overuse of Moloch makes you kind of go crazy hence the second part, the more eviler side of Howl, to me at least. But the edit I am talking about happened in his 4th draft where he went from, "Moloch in whom we sit lonely" to "Moloch in whom I sit lonely." That one small edit to me was a doorway for him to really get into this piece. Throughout the first few drafts you get a sense that Ginsberg was trying to separate himself from Moloch but once he realized them one in the same the drafts get a lot more exciting and more focused. The drafts for this part were at one point 8 pages long, it's amazing how he got it to only 3 very small City Light's pages. I always find it interesting when other writers are against editing. For me writing a poem is like building a door and frame. The editing is the opening of the door and allowing the poet in.