As regular readers would know, last Poetry Monday I was struggling with a particularly stark example of post-modern poetry. It looks as though UPenn will be coming to my rescue. I just watched the intro video for ModPo: a 10 week online course
on modern and contemporary American poetry from Dickinson and Whitman to the present. Judging from the video, there is going to be quite a strong focus on experimental
form. The instructor, Al Filreis, is founder, and faculty director of the Kelly Writers House; director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing; codirector (with Charles Bernstein) of PennSound; and publisher of Jacket2 -- all at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been teaching since 1985. I have actually
taken modern poetry classes back in my English major days, but I was so much older then...(and certainly there was nothing this global or virtual back when an electronic typewriter was innovative...). The course is
free and looks like it will be a lot of fun, and quite educational as well - both for those who already have a good understanding of modern poetry, and for those just coming to the topic. Do feel free to join me: http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88v/modpo-intro-video.html and maybe, just for fun, we can share our experiences here.
