Documentary Poetics

This course will explore 20th and 21st century documentary poetic texts to provide points of discussion and inspiration for our own investigative poetry. We’ll look at a range of works, from those confronting the legal record to those creating their own record of the infraordinary quotidian (Perec’s term), and discuss the various aesthetic, ethical, social, and procedural questions raised. Participants will be asked to develop and create their own final documentary poetry projects. Readings will include works by Reznikoff, Niedecker, Williams, M. NourbeSe Philip, C.D. Wright, Bernadette Mayer, Cole Swensen, Raúl Zurita, Anne Carson, Cristina Rivera-Garza, and many others.