Selected Poems

About the Author\nMichael Gottlieb is a poet and the author of twenty-one books. In addition to numerous collections of poetry, his published work also includes memoirs and essays. His most recent titles are MOSTLY CLEARING (Roof Books, 2019), WHAT WE DO: ESSAYS FOR POETS (Chax Press, 2016), I HAD EVERY INTENTION (Faux Press, 2014), DEAR ALL (Roof Books, 2013), Letters to A Middle Aged Poet (Otoliths, 2012), The Dust (Roof Books, 2011), MEMOIR AND ESSAY (Faux Press, 2010). A first- generation member of the Language Poetry school, he helped edit one of its foundational magazines, Roof. He was also the publisher of Case/Casement Books (1981-1999) and started the Last Tuesday multi-media performance series at La Mama in NYC in the 1980s.
Several of his works have also been adapted for the stage, including excerpts from MOSTLY CLEARING, adapted by Genée Coreno and The Dust , his authoritative 9/11 poem which the dramatist Fiona Templeton staged at the St. Marks Poetry Project on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. In addition, in the fall of 2021, for the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, a new version of The Dust , directed by Genée Coreno was staged along with an adaptation of The Voices , also staged by Genée Coreno, both under the auspices of The Poetry Project.\n"At last! The essential Michael Gottlieb in one volume. For decades, Gottlieb's publications and live readings have been accruing admirers from vanguardist writing communities nationwide. From his beginnings as a lexical atomicist to his later staged documentary pieces, this extensive collection will prove Gottlieb to be one of the most forensic poets of our time. Whether closely examining the radical uncertainty of privately lived phenomenon or tracking the nano-moments of accidental public encounters, these works brim with a wit and quirkiness that's sure to thrill brow-furrowed scholars, roustabout flaneurs, and solitary text trippers in equal measure."-- Rodrigo Toscano
"With a sardonic, razor-edged critique, Michael Gottlieb takes to task (and to heart) the irritants and menaces of quotidian late-capital social life. His forte is to lay bare and examine human fallibility, vulnerability and instability. A momentary clearing is created post-fallout where the ultimate pathos of subjectivity and ego have room to transform. The stakes are high. What does it mean to be a poet, citizen, resident of planet Earth? Throughout his work, he probes all psychic and theoretical valances. Gottlieb's oeuvre is myriad--the forms the writings take diverse. His Selected Poems spans from late 1970's work based on chance operations, to recent collaged writings. Now is the necessary hour to challenge the status quo, something Gottlieb has been doing conscientiously for half a century. I am awed by the substantive meanings that reverberate sonically throughout this collection."
-- Brenda Iijima
Poetry