Flarf's Biggest Fan

Maybe I think everyone should take a month off and just let John Latta and Thomas Basboll blog for awhile, and then jump back in and try to meet them at the pitch they're playing in.

Tony Tost

I missed the recent flurry of activity about Flarf centred around Dale Smith's Possum Ego. Some key contributions seem to include Kent's remarks and Kasey's, and, very notably, Tony's (first comment), in which he says some very nice things about my approach to Flarf. I think Tony is right to insist on the Google aspect, and I continue to be puzzled by the "community spirit" of the Flarf List. It has been suggested that its reaction to criticism and its insistence on being read "closely" is itself part of "the joke". I don't know. And I don't really care. Even if some sort of joke is ultimately "on me", I have found reading Flarf in my own way very rewarding. In fact, reading through the posts and comments, some of which are quite extensive, I don't think there is any hope that I can find a position to occupy and defend, so I'm just going to make it my goal to make Tony Tost Flarf's biggest fan. That is, I'm going to take up his challenge and read at least one flarfy poem every day for a month and write a post about it. My model will be Jonathan's various reading and listening projects over at Bemsha Swing. Feel free to prod and spur me if I miss a day.

Tomorrow, then, I will answer the question, "Does Your Poetry Hold Up?" (PDF)