If someone came up and started talking a poem at you how would you know it was a poem? So begins David Antin's Talking, a collection of writings that defy classification. Combining a passion for storytelling and improvisation with a unique sensitivity to the relationship between verbal and written language, Antin creates a work that is hilarious and intelligent, making use of techniques of poetry, fiction, theater, autobiography, and cultural criticism. The four pieces here center on political, social, and artistic concerns that were both timely and ahead of their time. In them we see Antin's real poetic achievement: the creation of new artistic forms.

In this series of intricately related texts, internationally known poet, critic, and performance artist David Antin explores the experience of time―how it's felt, remembered, and recounted. These free-form talk pieces―sometimes called talk poems or simply talks―began as improvisations at museums, universities, and poetry centers where Antin was invited to come and think out loud. Serious and playful, they move rapidly from keen analysis to powerful storytelling to passages of pure comedy, as they range kaleidoscopically across Antin's experiences: in the New York City of his childhood and youth, the Eastern Europe of family and friends, and the New York and Southern California of his art and literary career. The author's analysis and abrasive comedy have been described as a mix of Lenny Bruce and Ludwig Wittgenstein, his commitment to verbal invention and narrative as a fusion of Mark Twain and Gertrude Stein. Taken together, these pieces provide a rich oral history of and critical context for the evolution of the California art scene from the 1960s onward.

MeditationsAuthor: David AntinTitle: MeditationsPublication: Black Sparrow PressEdition: FIRST EDITIONDescription: First Edition, First Printing. Published by Black Sparrow Press, 1971. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good. Great copy of this collection of poetry. Seller ID: 349717Subject: Poetry