Have you checked out the commentary series I co-edit with Brian Reed* and Craig Dworkin? It’s called “First Readings.” We ask five critics & poet-critics to write up short initial responses to a supposedly “difficult” poem: https://jacket2.org/commentary/first-readings . * ModPo’ers will remember Brian’s terrific essay about Caroline Bergvall’s “VIA” we read...
Today in KWH’s Wexler Studio I had the great pleasure of convening & moderating a new episode of PoemTalk. Amber Rose Johnson, Tracie Morris, Alexandria Johnson & I discussed six sections of NourbeSe Philip’s “Zong!” (It will be a few months before this episode will be available.)
We have made a new video for ModPo—on Lorine Niedecker’s “I married.” During this discussion we listen to two voicemail left for us by ModPo people, asking questions about this poem. Here is a link to the video.
People associated with ModPo in the last few years will know Camara Brown as a TA and participant in a number of ModPo videos. We at KWH & ModPo are proud of her for being featured in this article: Proud and excited for my student, advisee, KWH staff colleague Camara...
Here’s something you’ll find in ModPo’s collection of crowdsourced close readings: Raymond Maxwell, Colleen Knight, Anika Lani, and Mark Snyder meet by GoogleHangout to discuss Clark Coolidge’s “Blues for Alice” (in the context of Charlie Parker and more): link to YouTube. (Note that the discussion starts at 5:35.) If you...
As part of the poetry reading series “Whenever We Feel Like It”, Rob Fitterman visited the Kelly Writers House to read from his work. This clip includes Fitterman reading from his book Nevermind, a “relaxing” of the lyrics of Nirvana’s seminal album “Nevermind” into slow poetry.
In April 2016 Anna Maria Hong gave a reading at the Kelly Writers House. One of the poems she read was “Plain As Him.” She introduced by telling us that it is about Donald Trump and also the U.S. women’s soccer team. Thanks to the video editing work of Dylan...
Back in November 2016 I had the honor of presenting the 99-year-old poet Naomi Replansky at Kelly Writers House. Here I’ve selected three photos from the many taken during her visit. Click on a photo for a larger view. I am also and pleased to offer links to various Replansky...
Today we are adding new materials to ModPo—on Naomi Replansky’s “On Not Writing.” This, according to Replansky herself (who is 99 years old as of this posting), is the last poem she will ever write, and, as the title suggests, is about that very cessation. The links below will work...
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. His new book is 1960: When Art & Literature Confronted the Memory of World War II & Remade the Modern (Columbia University Press, 2021). He is currently writing a book about online pedagogy. He has taught a massive open online course, "ModPo," to 265,000 participants in 192 countries since 2012.
Founder/Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House—intro video ][ events calendar
Convener/teacher, “ModPo.” an open online course on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry—overview of the course ][ intro video
Publisher of Jacket2 magazine—my Jacket2 commentary series ][ "First Readings"
Producer/host, PoemTalk podcast series—co-sponsored by Kelly Writers House & the Poetry Foundation
Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing—Creative Writing ][ RealArts internships ]
Co-founder & co-director of PennSound—50,000 files ][ 15 million downloads annually
Teacher & host, "Kelly Writers House Fellows"—since 1999 ][ Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, Jamaica Kincaid, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Rich, Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman & more
Teacher, "Representations of the Holocaust"—a course on survivor testimony ][ my holocaust site
Click on the image for information about the book.