William Blake Round-up

Cowboy Up.

2 reasons I'm mad at Arizona:

1. The obvious.
2. Cowboy Poetry.

(Mad that I haven't heard about its recent renaissance until now!) The now I'm referring to being: Baxter Black.

Heralded by the NY Times as "probably the nation's most successful living poet," Baxter makes you rethink the meaning of success, not to mention the meaning of poetry. He works on the edge of that terrain of contemporary poetry where obscurity and clarity meet, or, as he puts it:

"between the Gila River and the Gila monster, the Mexican border and the Border Patrol and between the horse and the cow---where the action is."

EXHIBIT A: Baxter Black

I notice the influence of Ed Dorn's Gunslinger in his work, paired with a rigorous ethical integrity reminiscent of that of William Blake or Christopher Smart. Find out more (before the evidence provided below scares you off from reading more about this poetry which fulfills Whitman's dreams for America by creating a truly national aesthetic. One which speaks for itself.)

EXHIBIT B: Video : "AS SEEN ON 'BAXTER BLACK FROM OUT THERE'"

EXHIBIT C: Cowboy living room.