Thomas Fink (poet)

Thomas Fink (born 1954) is a poet, critic, and painter. He is the author of seven books of poetry, two books of criticism, and a literature anthology, and he has co-edited a critical anthology. Fink has published close to 200 articles, reviews, and interviews in a variety of journals.

Life

Born in New York City, Thomas Fink received a B.A. (cum laude) in English from Princeton University in 1976. As a member of the track and field team, during his senior year, he triple jumped the second longest distance in the university’s history (at the time) and gained a silver medal at the Heptagonal Games. In 1981, Fink was granted a Ph.D. (with distinction) in English from Columbia University after writing a dissertation on John Ashbery’s poetry. Since that year, he has taught composition and literature at City University of New York-LaGuardia, where he is currently a full professor.^[1][2]

Works

Books and Chapbooks of Poetry

• Peace Conference. Marsh Hawk Press. 2011. ISBN 9780984117772. 
• Autopsy Turvy. Meritage Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-9794119-7-7. 
• Clarity and Other Poems. Marsh Hawk Press. 2008. ISBN 978-0979241642. 
• Staccato Landmark. more research. 2011. ISBN 9780984117772. 
• After Taxes. Marsh Hawk Press. 2004. ISBN 978-0975919750. 
• Gossip. Marsh Hawk Press. 2001. ISBN 9780971333215. 
• Surprise Visit. Domestic Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0934450546. 

Books of Criticism and Edited Books

• "Burning Interiors": David Shapiro’s Poetry and Poetics. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 2007. ISBN 978-0838641552. 
• "A Different Sense of Power": Problems of Community in Late Twentieth-Century U.S. Poetry. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 2001. ISBN 9780838638972. 
• Literature around the Globe. Kendall/Hunt. 1994. ISBN 978-0840399250. 
• The Poetry of David Shapiro. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0838634950. 

Anthologies

• Jean Vengua & Mark Young, ed. (2008). The Second Hay(na)ku Anthology. Meritage Press. ISBN 9789519198736. 
• Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan, George Wallace, and David Axelrod., ed. (2008). Long Island Sounds Anthology. North Sea Poetry P. 
• Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan., ed. (2007). Long Island Sounds Anthology. North Sea Poetry P. 
• Denise Duhamel, Maureen Seaton, and David Trinidad., ed. (2007). Saints of Hysteria: A Half Century of Collaborative American Poetry. Soft Skull Press. 
• Sheila E. Murphy and M.L. Weber, ed. (2007). An Anthology of New Collaborative Poetry. SugarMule.com Press. 
• Heather McHugh and David Lehman, ed. (2007). The Best American Poetry. Scribner’s. ISBN 9780743299732. 
• Jean Vengua & Mark Young, ed. (2005). The First Hay(na)ku Anthology. Meritage Press. ISBN 951-9198-72-5. 

Selected Articles

• "'Here and There': The Locus of Language in John Ashbery's 'Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror.'", Contemporary Poetry. 4.3 (1982): 47-64. Print.
• " The Problem of Freedom and Restriction in the Poetry of A.R. Ammons.", Modern Poetry Studies. 11. 1 & 2 (1982): 138-148. Print.
• " The Comic Thrust of Ashbery's Poetry.", Twentieth Century Literature. 30. 1 (1984): 1-14. Print.
• “Affirmative Play/Playful Affirmation: Stevens' 'An Ordinary Evening in New Haven.”, The Wallace Stevens Journal. 8. 2 (1984): 87-95. Print.
• " Reading Deconstructively in the Two-Year College Literature Classroom. ", Teaching English in the Two-Year College. 12. 1 (1985): 64-71. Reprinted in Practicing Theory in Introductory College Literature Courses. Ed. James M. Cahalan & David B. Downing. Urbana: NCTE, 1991: 239-247. Print.
• " The Poetry of David Shapiro and Ann Lauterbach: After Ashbery.", American Poetry Review. 17.1 (1988): 27-32. Print.
• " Citationality and Its Discontents.", American Letters & Commentary. 2 (1989): 53-63. Print.
• " Tracing David Shapiro's 'The Seasons.", Contemporary Literature. 37. 3 (Fall 1996): 416-38. Print.
• " Between/After Language Poetry and the New York School.” [On Lauterbach, Berssenbrugge, Yau, Shapiro, Lease, l Miller, and Donahue] The World in Time and Space: Towards a History of Innovative American Poetry in Our Time. Talisman: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. 23-26 (2002) Ed. Edward Foster and Joseph Donahue. 224-230. Print.
• " Poetry, Charm, and More: Billy Collins and Mei-mei Berssenbrugge." Talisman 27 (Winter 2003): 100-107. Print.
• "'No Other Sentence Could Have Followed This': Ron Silliman's Tjanting." Titanic Operas,Folio Two (2004) Web.
• " Transgression, Confession, and Flagrant Multiplicity in the Poetry of Timothy Liu." Slope 24 (Winter 2007) Web.
• " Uncanny Narrative in Shapiro’s A Burning Interior." “Burning Interiors”: David Shapiro’s Poetry and Poetics Ed. Thomas Fink and Joseph Lease. Publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|. (2007) Print.
• " The Poetry of Questions.” [on Ron Silliman, Tom Beckett, Steve Benson, Brenda Iijima, and Eileen Tabios]." Jacket 34. (Oct. 2007) Web.
• " “The Poetry of Mark Young.” In Mark Young, Pelican Dreaming: Poems 1959-2008.” Ed. Thomas Fink. |Publisher=Meritage|. (2008) Print.
• "Danger, Skepticism, and Longing: Five Contemporary Secular Jewish American Poets.” [on Charles Bernstein, Joanna Fuhrman, Joseph Lease, Stephen Paul Miller, and David Shapiro]. In Radical Poetics and Secular Jewish Poetic Culture.” Ed.Stephen Paul Miller and Daniel Morris. |Publisher=University of Alabama Press|. (2009) Print.
• "Olson Meets Web 2.0"EOAGH7. (2011) Web.
• " Charles Bernstein’s Catalogue Poetry.” The Salt Companion to Charles Bernstein." Ed. William Allegrezza. Publisher=|Salt|. (2012) Print

Selected Reviews

• "Angling for Ashbery: A Review of Beyond Amazement: New Essays on John Ashbery." Nouvelle Europe. 11. 38 & 39 (1982): 18-19. Print.
• “The Sun We See Is Not the Real Sun.” [Joseph Lease, Human Rights]. Boston Book Review 5. 3 (April 1998): 28-9. Print.
• "Rochelle Owens’ New and Selected Poems 1961-1996." Confrontation. 64/65 (Spring 1998): 260-2. Print.
• "Diana Chang’s The Mind’s Amazement and John Ashbery’s Wakefulness." Confrontation, 66/67 (Fall 1998): 318-21. Print.
• "Clark Coolidge’s On the Nameways." Rain Taxi. 5.4. (Winter 2000/2001): 22-3. Print.
• "Nick Carbo’s Secret Asian Man." Rain Taxi. Winter 2001. Web.
• “New York, New York.” The Scene of My Selves: New Essays on New York School Poetry." Ed. Terence Diggory and Stephen Paul Miller. American Book Review 22.3 (March/April 2001): 35. Print.
• "Word of Mouth: An Anthology of Gay American Poetry." Ed. Timothy Liu. Verse. (Fall, 2001): 100-3. Print.
• "Ann Lauterbach’s If In Time: Selected Poems 1975-2000." Boston Review. 26.6 (December 2001/January 2002): 48-9. Print.
• “Hey, I’m Fragmentary.” Clark Coolidge’s On the Nameways, Vol. 2. American Book Review 23.4 (May/June 2002): 18-19. Print.
• "Riches of Double Consciousness." Pleasure Dome: Collected and New Poems. Yusef Komunyaaka.Chattahoochee Review.(Spring 2002): 95-102. Print.
• "More Than Queen for a Feminist Day." Denise Duhamel's Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems." Poet Lore 97.1/2 (Spring 2002): 87-91. Print.
• "Charles Bernstein's With Strings, Susan Wheeler's Source Codes, and Donald Revell's Arcady." Jacket 19 (October 2002)Print
• "The Stuff of Myth, On Joseph Donahue." [Incidental Eclipse]. Denver Quarterly 38.2 (Summer 2003): 89-92. Print.
• "Harryette Mullen's Sleeping with the Dictionary." Confrontation 84/85 (Fall 2003/Winter 2004): 318-319. Print.
• "Noah Eli Gordon's The Frequencies." Jacket 25. Feb. 2004. Web.
• "Thinking of Something Else." Review of Tan Lin's Blipsoak01." American Book Review 25.6 (Sept./Oct. 2004): 23, 26. Print.
• "Elizabeth Willis's Turneresque." Verse, 1 Sept. 2004. Web.
• "Michael Heller's Exigent Futures." Chicago Review. 50: 2/3/4. (Winter 2004/2005): 354-358. Print.
• "Robert Creeley's If I Were Writing This." Talisman. 28-29 (Winter2005): 84-88. Print.
• "Sheila Murphy's Proof of Silhouettes." Talisman. 28-29 (Winter2005): 175-181. Print.
• “60 lv bo(e)mbs: 60 love poems, live bombs, love poems, live love bomb poems.” [Paolo Javier’s 60 lvbo(e)mbs] Jacket 29. April 2006. Web.
• "Ed Roberson’s City Eclogue." Galatea Resurrects 2. May 2006. Web.
• “Andrew Joron’s Fathom.” 26 E (2006): 221-230. Print.
• "Forrest Gander, Eye against Eye." Talisman 32-33 (Summer/Fall 2006): 248-49. Print.
• "Mei-mei Berssenbrugge’s I Love Artists." Galatea Resurrects 3. August 2006. Web.
• “Musical Effects.” Eileen R. Tabios’ The Secret Lives of Punctuations, Vol. 1] Jacket 31. October 2006. Web.
• "Lyn Hejinian's My Life in the Nineties." Titanic Operas, Folio Three (2006). Web.
• “On Joanna Fuhrman’s Moraine.” Talisman 34 (Winter2007): 99-101. Print.
• "Noelle Kocot’s Poem for the End of the World and Other Poems." Octopus 8 (2007). Web.
• "Charles Bernstein’s Girly Man." Verse, 6 Feb. 2007. Web.
• “On Joseph Lease’s Broken World.” Denver Quarterly 41.3 (2007): 45-50. Print.
• “On David Shapiro.” Denver Quarterly, 42.1 (2007): 38-44. Print.
• “On Tim Peterson’s Since I Moved In.” Talisman 35 (Fall 2007): 93-95. Print.
• "David Lehman’s When a Woman Loves a Man." Galatea Resurrects 9. Mar. 2008. Web.
• “Poetry Suffuses Politics.” Stephen Paul Miller’s Being with a Bullet.] Jacket 35. early 2008. Web.
• "Brenda Iijima’s Animate, Inanimate Aims." Jacket 36. Late 2008. Web.
• "Edward Foster’s History of the Common Scale." Galatea Resurrects 12. May 2009. Web.
• "Geoffrey Young’s The Riot Act" Talisman 36/37 (Fall 2008/Winter 2009): 160-3. Print.
• "Tan Lin’s Plagiarism/Outsource." Otoliths. 14 (Aug. 2009). Web.
• "Sueyeun Juliette Lee’s Underground National." Verse 30, July 2010. Web.
• "Andrew Joron’s The Sound Mirror." Talisman 38/39 (Summer/Autumn 2010): 38-42. Print.
• "Tom Beckett’s Parts and Other Pieces." Galatea Resurrects 17 (Dec. 2011)Web.
• “Attack of the Difficult Poems by Charles Bernstein.” Press 1 5.2 (Sept. – Dec. 2011) Web.
• “Peter Gizzi’s Threshold Songs.” Verse 19 Mar. 2012. Web.
• "Thinking through Modes of Renewal and Reconstruction: Evie Shockley’s The New Black.” Denver Quarterly 46.4 (2012): 45-49. Print.

Selected Interviews

• “Interview with Sheila E. Murphy.” E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The First XI Interviews. Ed Tom Beckett. Rockhampton, Australia: Otoliths, 2007. 73-87. Print. Originally published on-line, Mar. 2005.
• “Interview with Michael Heller.” E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The Second XV Interviews. Ed Tom Beckett. Rockhampton, Australia: Otoliths, 2007. 27-36. Print. Originally published on-line, Jan. 2006.
• “Interview with Sandy McIntosh.” E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The Second XV Interviews. Ed Tom Beckett. Rockhampton, Australia: Otoliths, 2007. 89-102. Print. Originally published on-line, Mar. 2006.
• “Interview with Geoffrey Young.” E-X-C-H-A-N-G-E-V-A-L-U-E-S: The Second XV Interviews. Ed Tom Beckett. Rockhampton, Australia: Otoliths, 2007. 283-93. Print. First published on-line, Sept. 2006.
• "With Crag Hill." “Interview” (of Tom Beckett). In Tom Beckett. Unprotected Texts: Selected Poems 1978-2006. St. Helena, CA: Meritage Press, 2006. 162-179. Print.
• “Burt Kimmelman in Conversation with Thomas Fink, 2010.” Jacket 40. Late 2010. Web.
• “A Discussion of revv.you’ll—ution.” [with Brenda Iijima] Little Red Leaves 5. Fall 2010. Web.
• “Interview with Timothy Liu” [on Bending the Mind Around the Dream’s Blown Fuse].Denver Quarterly 45.2 (2011): 31-39. Print.
• "Interview with Sawako Nakayasu on Texture Notes. Ask/Tell (Sept. 2011). Web.
• “Exchange on Basil King’s Learning to Draw/ A History.” Ask/Tell (May 2012) Web.
• “Spectacle & Pigsty by Kiwao Nomura,” trans. Yoshida & Gander. [review] Press 1. 6.1 (May-Aug. 2012) Web.
• “Exchange about Lakshmi Bandlamudi’s Dialogues of Self, the Mahabharata, and Culture“ [with Bandlamudi]. Ask/Tell (July 2012). Web.
• “Exchange on Andrew Levy’s Nothing Is In Here. The Conversant. Fall, 2012. Web.

Further reading

• Bernstein, Charles (2011). Objectivist Blues: Scoring Speech in Second Wave Modernist Poetry and Lyrics. Attack of the Difficult Poems. U of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-04476-7. 
• Tabios, Eileen (2007). Ay, Nako! Thomas Fink’s Visual Poetry: The Hay(na)ku Paintings. Silences: The Autobiography of Loss. Blue Lion Books. ISBN 952-5645-09-6. 
• James Roderick Burns. Review of No Appointment Necessary. Book/Mark (Winter 2008): 5-6. Print.
• Patricia Carlin. “Patricia Carlin Presents a Poem by Thomas Fink.” Best American Poetry Blog. 15 Nov. 2009. Web.
• Barry Dordick. “After Taxes by Thomas Fink.” Galatea Resurrects 1 (Mar. 2006) Web.
• Freedman, Lewis. “This Collision of Multiplicity and Singularity: A Review of Thomas Fink’s ‘Yinglish Strophes 1-19.” Jacket 2 (2012). Web.
• Noah Eli Gordon. Review of After Taxes. Xantippe 3 (2005): 109-114. Print.
• Judith Halden-Sullivan. “(Im)possible Surprises: On Fink’s Surprise Visit.” Minnesota Review. 43-44 (1995): 276-80. Print.
• M.D.H. Johnson. “After Taxes.” Book/Mark (Winter 2005): 6-7. Print.
• Steven Karl. Review of Clarity and Other Poems. Galatea Resurrects 12 (May 2009) Web.
• Louis McKee. “Number Forty-Eight.” American Book Review 26.6 (September/October 2005): 25, 31. Print.
• Stephen Paul Miller. “Periodizing Ashbery and His Influence.” The Tribe of John: Ashbery and Contemporary Poetry. Ed. Susan M. Schultz. *Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995: 146-7. Print.
• Daniel Morris. Review of Gossip. Confrontation. 82/83 (Spring/Summer 2003): 327-9. Print.
• Susan Smith Nash. “On Thomas Fink’s Peace Conference.” Press 1. 5.3 (Jan.-Apr. 2012). Web.
• Tim Peterson. Review of No Appointment Necessary. Galatea Resurrects 6 (May 2007) Web.
• Shivaji Sengupta. “Absence, Presence, and Meaning: Thomas Fink’s After Taxes.” Jacket 26 (Oct. 2004) Web.
• Carole Stone. “Review of Thomas Fink’s After Taxes.” Moria Poetry Journal. 7.3 & 4(Winter/Spring 2005) Web.

References

Sources

• Author Website

External links

• LaGuardia Community College faculty webpage