Many Cities, Many Minds--Indiana Poets

Poets from Indiana, George Kalamaras Surrealism made its way to Indiana? Yes, it did in the work of George Kalamaras (and yes, I know we can argue about the term, but the surrealist influence is clear in his work.). Kalamaras was born in Chicago, but he grew up right down the road from me in Cedar Lake and even went to college at IU. He headed west to Colorado after that and then back east to NY; however, he found his way back to Indiana and taught for over 30 years at Purdue in Fort Wayne. He even had a stint as the Poet Laureate of Indiana. It was during that period that I saw him read his work at a former hardware store converted into an art center in Hammond. He has published books with many great small presses like Cervena Brava, Dos Madres, and Pavement Saw.  Here is an excerpt from "The Madness of Michael Mistakes." The entire poem can be found in his book To Sleep in the Horse's Belly.                      ...

 Poets from Indiana, Etheridge Knight Black revolutionary poet, drug addict, poet of the people, Korean War vet, intellectual, member of the the Broadside Quartet--Etheridge Knight was a complicated figure. And yes, I know he was born in Mississippi and grew up in Kentucky. I know he bounced around the U.S. for a while in mythic poetic fashion and hung out with the likes of Amiri Baraka, Haki R. Madhubuti, Nikki Giovanni, the one-and-only Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sonia Sanchez, whom he was married to for two years. Yes, I know he's one of the titans of the Blacks Arts Movement. But he made his home in Indianapolis, got a college degree later in life there, made friends, mentored young poets, battled his addiction, and eventually died there. They even just put up a mural to him in Indy at the Chatterbox jazz club.  Here's a sample from one of my favorites. You can find the entire poem on the Poetry Foundation . Fuck Coltrane and music and clouds drifting in the sky fuck the sea a...

Poets from Indiana, Sheila Murphy   Wait, Indiana, what? I know that Sheila Murphy lives in Phoenix now. And yes, she's published books with Green Integer, Meritage Press, Pavement Saw, The University of Alberta Press, and many, many more not in Indiana. In fact, she's published so many books that I've lost count. Visual works, haibuns, hay(na)kus, ghazals--her books cover the field of innovative poetry, and the rumor/uber myth about her is that she writes so much that she burns out her computer keyboards quickly. Wow! Yep, that same super talented and imminently brilliant Sheila Murphy was born in Mishawaka and then moved to South Bend at eight. Her parents were both educators in the area, one at Notre Dame and one at the South Bend Community Schools. In fact, she lived in Indiana until she was 23. So, yes, Indiana poet. You can find her work all over the Internet (though the Poetry Foundation only has one poem, come on!). Her work is not for the faint of heart. She requir...

Poets from Indiana, Kenneth Rexroth Yes, Mr. anti-establishment himself, Kenneth Rexroth, started his life in South Bend, Indiana, and was there until 14 when he headed off to Chicago and then bounced around for years until he ended up in San Francisco.  Yes, that same Rexroth who emceed the reading off Howl , who corresponded with Pound, Whalen, Levertov, Oppen, Synder, and others. That same Rexroth who championed the art of translation and was famously antiwar and antigovernment. Indiana.  One of my favorite poems of his is "The Bad Old Days." You can find the entire poem on the Poetry Foundation page , but here is a taste. The summer of nineteen eighteen    I read  The Jungle  and  The Research Magnificent.  That fall    My father died and my aunt    Took me to Chicago to live.    The first thing I did was to take    A streetcar to the stockyards.    In the winter afternoon,    Gritty ...