introduction to Jamie Townsend, 5/17/2013

Below is Krystal Languell's introduction to Jamie Townsend at the Center for Book Arts on May 17, 2013.

Jamie Townsend's poems give us back our starlets. I feel a particular kinship with his work because he has a poem called "Always be my Baby" and I  have a poem called "Touch my Body," both after Mariah Carey poems.

But what Jamie does for/to/through Mariah/Mimi is to oppose the "Stars! They're just like us!" narrative and offer in its place "Stars! They're from outer space."

Did Mariah Carey invent the selfie? My computer autocorrected to say "Did Mariah Carey invent the self."

Jamie's work enters the mythology of recent-past, even present-moment, stardom by repackaging what we've just started to forget and reminding us of its value. Remember Mariah Carey's falsetto? Now you do. Jamie's work is expansive rather than contained. Other poets are writing about pop culture right now, but Jamie is doing so in a true epic way--Mariah Carey, Barbara Walters, Antony, Mimi from the band LOW, rolling through five or seven pages of fragment and aside--and this is not your MTA Poetry in Motion commodity, this is that rare hot body sitting next to you on the train so that you can't even stare, they are too close, but maybe they are doing an erasure of the Wall Street Journal. You recognize. And Jamie's work gives you back that moment.


Jamie Townsend is the managing editor for Aufgabe, as well as the
co-founder of con/crescent, a periodic hub of creative mumbo-jumbo. He
is author of the chapbooks STRAP/HALO (Portable Press @ Yo-Yo Labs;
2011), Matryoshka (LRL Textile Editions; 2011), and THE DOME (Ixnay
Press; 2011). In 2012 he was selected to be a Millay Colony fellow.

LaTasha Diggs in Spring 2014

You can catch Belladonna* author LaTasha Diggs performing and/or curating at these events in the weeks to come!

April 3, 2014, 7pm
The Department of Performance Studies
New York University / Tisch
721 Broadway, 6th Floor, Room 612

April 5, 2 pm
Tribute to Amiri Baraka
The Poetry Project, Saint Marks Church

April 7, 7pm
The Contemporary Literature Series

In the Undergraduate English Program at NYU

LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs and Urayoan Noel

April 16
La Casa Azul Bookstore

El Barrio, Harlem 

April 17 & 18
Bentley Theater  
Darmouth College 
New Hampshire

April 22, 7pm 
Belladonna* presents Betsy Fagin, LaTasha Diggs,
Uljana Wolf
Brooklyn Public Library

RSVP on Facebook

April 25, 6pm

Center for Books Arts Broadside Series
featuring Zohra Saed and Mendi + Keith Obadike
Curated by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs

April 26, 6pm

Mr. Hip Presents Readings Series
UFORGE Gallery
767 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Get your hands on a copy of TwERK if you haven't yet! Ordering direct from Belladonna* ensures your cash goes straight to the press!

Upcoming Events!

Poetry Month is sure to be a whirlwind with all of these Belladonna* readings and co-sponsored events.

March 27, 6:15pm

The Annual Women's History Month Akilah Oliver Memorial Reading featuring R. Erica Doyle 

Pratt Institute, DeKalb 208 

200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY

April 3, 10am to 8pm

CUNY Chapbook Fest book fair, C-level CUNY Grad Ctr

April 4-5: Poetics @ Pratt:April 4, 11am to 3pm: Poetics book fair at Pratt Institute, outdoor lawn
(includes Belladonna*, Litmus Press, Ugly Duckling Presse, more!)

April 5, 1-6pm, 8-10pm: Pratt faculty poets marathon reading, Alumni Reading Room (includes Rachel Levitsky, Krystal Languell, Laura Elrick, Anna Moschovakis, more!)
RSVP on Facebook

  

April 9, 12:30pm

Judy Grahn

Pratt Institute, Higgins Hall

200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY

  

April 9, 8pm

Judy Grahn and Jack Waters

The Poetry Project

131 E. 10th St, NYC

  

April 16, 7pm

Belladonna* presents Brenda Hillman & Evelyn Reilly 

Berl's Poetry Bookshop, 126A Front St, Brooklyn, NY

April 19 7pm 

Barbara Henning reading 

UDP:D, Salt & Cedar in Detroit, MI

April 22, 7pm

Belladonna* presents Betsy Fagin, LaTasha Diggs, Uljana Wolf 

Brooklyn Public Library

 RSVP on Facebook 

Belladonna* 2014 Subscription Drive: ongoing!

http://belladonnaseries.org/subscriptions.html