erica kaufman
books & publications
INSTANT CLASSIC
Roof Books, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-931824-55-2
$14.95
"INSTANT CLASSIC is precisely that; as soon as you start reading it, you say, oh, yeah, of course, why didn't I think of that? Exploring the pathways of grammar-twisting, women's, queer poetry and poetics in a single form that encapsulates many possibilities, kaufman's book is one of the few that links us all. Fine tuned economy balanced with rhythmic alliteration of word density almost belies the intention of "classic" yet erica kaufman exhibits a sophisticated fleetness in her line design actions. Beautiful, thoughtful, a music for the eye, heart, soul and mind."
- Thurston Moore
"How her work can fragment, bump, fall away, pile on and still exude an aura of warmth and kindness and slapstick good times sound is an alchemical mystery that makes postmodern poetry and erica kaufman’s art beating in it be the game in town always worth watching."
- Eileen Myles
"'We are all mutants in our own gaze,' says erica kaufman, in this set of Milton-inflected exploratory poems that casts its gaze on what we own and what owns us. In the beginning is variation and change; it is our common ground. Mutants of the world: unite! We have nothing to lose but our cowboy hats. INSTANT CLASSIC: Here & now. And how.”
- Charles Bernstein
censory impulse
Heretical Texts
Factory School, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-60001-063-7
$15
censory impulse is a book length excavation of the body (both physical and psychological) disrupted. These poems take their calling from the relationship between the neurological and the political, the digestive and the subjective, the gendered and the cyborg. Kaufman's verse is located somewhere between Oliver Sacks, Donna Haraway, & Chris Hables Gray--only in place of scientific hypotheses we see line breaks, metaphorical projections, and "labyrinth authority."
Reviews:
"Coming to Terms with Absence" by Brian Mornar (@ Jacket2)
Excerpts Online:
Adrienne Rich: Teaching at CUNY, 1968-1974 (Parts I & II)
eds. Iemanjá Brown, Stefania Heim, erica kaufman, Kristin Moriah, Conor Tomás Reed, Talia Shalev & Wendy Tronrud
In this collective effort, a team of Lost & Found editors explore Adrienne Rich’s teaching materials from her formative years during the turbulent and exhilarating student strike for Open Admissions in the late 1960s at the City University of New York. Drawing on memos, notes, course syllabi, and class exercises, this collection provides insight into Rich’s dedication, passion, and empathy as a teacher completely dedicated to her students as they take a leading role in reshaping access to public higher education. Rich’s characteristic public generosity and courage can be seen, for the first time, in an institutional setting through these materials. Accompanied by essays that contextualize both the pedagogy and the politics, this collection truly breaks new ground in presenting lesser-known aspects of a major poet’s work.
Part of Series IV,
Lost & Found: The CUNY Poetics Document Initiative
NO GENDER
Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards
Edited by Julian T. Brolaski, erica kaufman,
and E. Tracy Grinnell
Venn Diagram 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9819310-1-2
$18
kari’s authorial “signature” undoes the authorial body in favor of a visible obfuscation—strikethru: kari never just signed, but rather crossed out hir name and wrote “NO GENDER.” The erasure—well no, the palimpsestic remaking of the name into a symbol for the dismantling of enforced gender codes is a profound and provocative gesture—the name is still visible behind the NO GENDER, as if behind bars… kari’s genius moved others to their own words, art, action—following a mandate of reclaiming the very words we speak and write—writing our selves, our other(ed) bodies, into a foundational postgender post-genre state. This book is the start of what hopefully will be a much longer conversation.
— from the introduction by Julian T. Brolaski & erica kaufman