I've just re-surfaced here (after a week from hell-- last week of classes, looming deadlines, all that)-- and I apologize for my silence. My instant reaction to this thread is that Janet is probably right, M.O.M. is not going to be your most rewarding forum for a topic like this one, Michael-- and perhaps it should be moved to General Talk. As a newbie here, I am not sure if doing this is a dramatic gesture or not-- I certainly don't intend it to be such. It just seems like a more appropriate venue.
My own personal and admittedly instinctive (rather than scholarly) take on these matters under discussion is that (a) "Language Poetry" is not poetry (okay, I'm ducking under the table!); (b) its influence on the academy is beginning to dwindle, and (c) a composition like Buzzing Bee is representative of a little sub-genre that I've always seen referred to as "concrete poetry." Hollander has a fantastic collection of these, called *Types of Shape* (Athenium, 1979) which you probably already know about. If not, I highly recommend it.
But all this is not getting this thread moved to where it belongs, right? I will try to do that tonight. If smoke starts billowing out the sides of your computer, it's because I did it wrong.
Marilyn
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