Lighght: A poem? Even a word? What is Minimalist Poetry?
Well, if you’ve ever been curious about minimalist poetry, this article’s for you: You call that poetry?. It’s about Aram Saroyan, and his poem Lighght which caused a stir about wasteful government spending after Saroyan was paid $750 for the inclusion of Lighght in a NEA funded journal. Is it enough for a poem, as Archibald MacLeish puts it, to be, as in to exist? Other of Saroyan’s poems are Aaple, and Blod, or eyeye. I’ll open the question up, though personally, I think it’s more conceptual art than poetry. Anyone care to chime in?
Here’s another link to Ron Silliman’s wonderful blog about Saroyan.