Annotation The interrelated essays in this book explore the coming together of ethics and poetics in literatures that engage with their contemporary moments to become wagers on the future of meaning. The central concern of The Poethical Wager is the relation of poetics to agency in a chaotic world.

Annotation The interrelated essays in this book explore the coming together of ethics and poetics in literatures that engage with their contemporary moments to become wagers on the future of meaning. The central concern of The Poethical Wager is the relation of poetics to agency in a chaotic world.

Poets Forrest Gander and John Kinsella offer an experiment, a collaborative volume of prose and poetry that investigates--both thematically and formally--the relationship between nature and culture, language and perception. They ask whether, in an age of globalization, industrialization, and rapid human population growth, an ethnocentric view of human beings as a species independent from others underpins our exploitation of natural resources. Does the disease of Western subjectivity constitute an element of the aesthetics that undermine poetic resistance to the killing of the land? Why does "the land" have to give something back to the writer?

Poetry. "At the beginning of her astounding new book, Joan Retallack posts a warning from Immanuel Kant 'against arguing directly from the logical possibility of concepts to the real possibility of things.' It seems to me that Retallack has succeeded brilliantly by flouting Kant's injunction. 'The real possibility of things' shimmers and sings on every page of PROCEDURAL ELEGIES, creating a living entity through means that remain as mysterious as they are vital" John Ashbery."

"BOSCH'D by Joan Retallack spans space-time in a whimsical mix of poetry, quotation, fact, and insertion that all seems to point toward the dissolution of binary, the questioning of what's considered common knowledge, and how a poet works to enact change"--

“A fine and selective anthology that’s also a critical introduction to some of the most provocative, and some of the most original, poetry out there.” —Stephanie Burt, author of Don’t Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems The American Poets in the 21st Century series continues with another anthology focused on female poets. Like the earlier books, this volume includes generous selections of poetry by some of the best poets of our time as well as illuminating poetics statements and incisive essays on their work. This unique organization makes these books invaluable teaching tools. Broadening the lens through which we look at contemporary poetry, this new volume extends its geographical net by including Caribbean and Canadian poets. Representing three generations of women writers, among the insightful pieces included in this volume are essays by Karla Kelsey on Mary Jo Bang’s modes of artifice, Christine Hume on Carla Harryman’s kinds of listening, Dawn Lundy Martin on M. NourbeSe Phillip (for whom “english / is a foreign anguish”), and Sina Queyras on Lisa Robertson’s confoundingly beautiful surfaces. In addition, a companion website presents audio of each poet’s work.

Includes lectures, essays, diaries and other writings, including "How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse)" and "Juilliard Lecture."