Two Poems from “The Day”

By Kenneth Goldsmith
Metropolitan Forecast


          D8 l the new york times tuesday, september 11, 2001
          Metropolitan Forecast
          today Less humid, sunshine
          High 79. Noticeably less humid air will filter into the metropolitan region on. Brisk winds from the northwest. High pressure building east from the Great Lakes will promote mainly sunny skies. Daytime readings will peak in the lower 80’s.
          tonight Clear, lighter winds
          Low 62. Skies will be clear overnight as high pressure crests near the Middle Atlantic Coast. Humidity will remain low, and temperatures will fall to around 60 degrees in many spots.
          tomorrow Mainly sunny
          High 76. Sunshine and just a few clouds will fill the sky. Breezes will turn and blow from the south ahead of a cold front approaching from Canada.


Islam

          e2 the new york times, tuesday, september 11, 2001
          arts abroad
          Continued From First Arts Page
          On Islam, Mr. Houellebecq went still further, deriding his estranged mother for converting to Islam and proclaiming that, while all monotheistic religions were “cretinous,” “the most stupid religion is Islam.” And he added: “When you read the Koran, you give up. At least the Bible is
          Sexual tourism
          and inflammatory
          remarks about
          Palestinians.
          very beautiful because Jews have an extraordinary literary talent.” And later, noting that “Islam is a dangerous religion,” he said it was condemned to disappear, not only because God does not exist but also because it was being undermined by capitalism.
Notes:
Kenneth Goldsmith is perhaps best known for his work Day, in which he transcribed every word of a mundane day’s issue of the New York Times into a nine-hundred-page book. For his work “The Day,” he did the same exact task to the New York Times of September 11, 2001. Hence, even the innocuous news reports and weather are loaded with fact, fear, and emotion, making us aware that language is never simply an innocent carrier of meaning but is wildly variable depending upon context and framing.
Source: Poetry (July/August 2009)