Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian respond:
BY Peter Gizzi
Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian respond:
Through our oversight, "Imagine Lucifer..." was among the poems we sent to Poetry in response to the editors' request for unpublished Jack Spicer materials; we had originally given the poem, along with other Spicer documents, to Ben Mazer for his "Berkeley Renaissance" portfolio, which appeared in Fulcrum. But Stephen Sturgeon's implication—that we consistently obscure the significant contributions of other editors of Spicer's work—is, in a word, rich. In private and in public (see, for example, the review of Fulcrum #3 which appeared in Jacket #26) we have many times praised Mazer's efforts on behalf of the poets of the Berkeley Renaissance, in particular his work on Landis Everson. What was originally a kindness to Mazer and an endorsement of his project, Sturgeon now turns on its head as though we were resentful of his efforts. As for the case of Spicer's poem "The city of Boston..." and its appearance in several venues, all we can say is that Sturgeon would detect a pattern of evil in apples and oranges.
Peter Gizzi grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Educated at New York University, Brown University, and the State University of New York at Buffalo, he is the author of many collections of poetry, including Archeophonics (2016), finalist for the National Book Award; In Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems, 1987–2011 (2014); Threshold Songs (2011); The Outernationale (2007); and Artificial Heart (1998...