I’m slated to teach two summer courses this year. Originally I was going to teach just one, but a second fell in my lap when a colleague had to drop out.

The first is a special topic graduate course on Contemporary Poetics. My focus is on avant-garde/experimental poetics traditions, primarily in the US, though not exclusively so. I’m planning on using three texts plus some other materials.

1. Poems for the Millenium Vol.2 edited by Pierre Joris and Jerome Rothenburg. University of California Press. ISBN: 0520208641
2. Telling It Slant. edited by Mark Wallace and Steven Marks. University of Alabama Press. ISBN: 0817310975
3. Rhythm Science by Paul D Miller. MIT Press. ISBN: 026263287X

A course on poetics begins with recognizing the disconnect between literary studies disciplinary approaches to poetry and the discourses on poetics developed within these experimental practices. Clearly we will be reading poetry, but we will also be reading statements on poetics in which poets articulate their vision of poetry as an experimental cultural and political force.

The second course, the one that has fallen to me, is Writing in Cyberspace, a course I regularly teach (and taught last semester). In this course we look to understand the effects of new media upon writing practice and to develop writing practices appropriate to electronic spaces. I’m not sure yet what books I’ll order. Usually I have something to support practical instruction in web design and a second text that offers readings for discussion of technoculture.