Aldon Nielsen blog: MLA POETRY READING PART I

What began as a small "off campus" reading by innovative poets (and one critic) during the 1989 conference of the Modern Language Association has now grown to something like a floating BURNING MAN of verse. This year's gathering of the poets took place on Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square on Dec. 29. That first reading, organized by Rod Smith in D.C.'s Adams Morgan neighborhood, was a comparatively simple affair. This year's, undertaken by Bob Perelman and company, required sponsorship (thanks, University of Alabama Press) and even insurance (evidently somebody thought getting more than half a century of poets in one room represented a substantial risk). The poets read roughly, and roughly in alpha order by first name. Most were surprisingly good about staying within their two minute allowance. (I have the digital recording, and thus the evidence of who was naughty and who was nice.) I'm sorry I wasn't able to get photos of everybody. (Hey, I don't even have a photo of myself reading.) But here, roughly in order of their appearance, are the poets themselves.