On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry [Live]

Photo by Jessica McHugh

At the fun “Raw Dog Screaming Press Book Party” at the Morgantown Poets group in West Virginia last month, I opened my reading by sharing a piece I’d written for Locus Magazine, a poem about why I write poetry, which I contributed to their running Roundtable series on speculative poetry.  Here’s my recitation of “On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry,” recorded during the reading. I don’t often write things like this — an opinion essay told in the form of a poem — but the audience really seemed to laugh and also get charged up by the poem.

Press the play button below to listen, or the link below it to download the file for your own devices.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[download "On the Irrelevance of Genre Poetry" - 6.42mb mp3 file]

Open Locus Magazine’s page in a new window if you’d like to read along. Please also consider leaving a comment on their site or below.

Locus Magazine is a long-running trade magazine for publishers, writers and dedicated fans in the genre, featuring reviews and coverage of trends in science-fiction, fantasy and horror publishing. While you’re there, read the other great articles on the Roundtable by Marge Simon, Robert Frazier, David Kopaska-Merkel, Denise Dumars, F.J. Bergmann and plenty of other great practicing sf/f/h poets on the Locus Roundtable Blog.

If you’re a genre poet, be sure to check out the Science Fiction Poetry Association and join the community. I’ve been a member since something like 1988, and their annual Rhysling Award anthology and journal (Star*Line) alone are worth the dues. Plus they do lots of fun things, like post audio readings of horror poetry every Halloween — check it out.

Click Saturn to Join the SFPA!

• Bio
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google+
• Latest Posts
• Subscribe!

Michael Arnzen

Michael Arnzen is an award-winning author of horror fiction and an English professor at Seton Hill University, where he has taught writing since 1999. His trophy case includes four Bram Stoker Awards and an International Horror Guild Award for his often funny, always disturbing stories. Join his social network at michaelarnzen.com.

@MikeArnzen

Follow @MikeArnzen

+Michael Arnzen

Latest posts by Michael Arnzen (see all)

• PLAY DEAD Returns in Paperback — Preorder to Win a Rare Book! - 06/03/2013
• Scary Movies (and More) by my Horror Writing Students (Spring 2013) - 05/01/2013
• My Monstrous Lecture on the Horror Genre: “Horror is the Removal of Masks” - 04/27/2013
• Live Instigation - 04/14/2013
• Outlaws At the Treffpunkt: the 5-2 Crime Poetry Weekly - 04/04/2013

The Goreletter is my free e-mail newsletter rich in strange microfiction, offbeat humor, horror poetry, reviews, surprises, contests, and tiny oddities. Recipient of the Bram Stoker Award! Subscribe today.