''Aerial'' is an influential poetry magazine edited by

Rod Smith Rod, Rodney or Roderick Smith may refer to: Sports * Rod Smith (sportscaster), sportscaster with The Sports Network * Rodney Smith (skateboarder), American skateboarder, co-founder of Zoo York * Rodney Smith (cricketer) (born 1944), English cricket ...

and published by Aerial/Edge, based in Washington, D.C. Aerial/Edge also publishes Edge Books. The first issue of ''Aerial'' appeared in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...

. Edge Books began with its first publication in

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

. Beginning with Issue 6/7 (John Cage), ''Aerial'' has published a series of issues devoted to the work of individual poets within the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

tradition, such as

Bruce Andrews Bruce Andrews (April 1, 1948) is an American poet who is one of the key figures associated with the Language poets (or '' L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' ''poets'', after the magazine that bears that name). Life and work Andrews was born in Chicago and studied ...

Barrett Watten Barrett Watten (born October 3, 1948) is an American poet, editor, and educator often associated with the Language poets. He is a professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan where he has taught modernism and cultural stud ...

, and

Lyn Hejinian Lyn Hejinian (born May 17, 1941) is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is known for her landmark work ''My Life'' (Sun & Moon, 1987, original version Burning Deck, 1980), as ...

. "''Aerial'' is focused primarily on the avant garde and the experimental, broadly defined", according to the magazine's website. This focus could be defined as a poetry and poetics that grew out of a counter-poetic tradition that took root in 20th-century North America. Today, some of the more recognizable of these avante garde and experimental groups would include

Black Mountain poets The Black Mountain poets, sometimes called projectivist poets, were a group of mid-20th-century American ''avant-garde'' or postmodern poets centered on Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Background Although it lasted only twenty-three y ...

, the New York School,

Language poets The Language poets (or ''L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E'' poets, after the magazine of that name) are an avant-garde group or tendency in United States poetry that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The poets included: Bernadette Mayer, Leslie Scal ...

, and the

San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watt ...

. Broadly defined, the various groups and "schools" found antecedents in the diverse theories and practice of John Cage and

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West (Pittsburgh), Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, Calif ...

George Oppen George Oppen (April 24, 1908 – July 7, 1984) was an American poet, best known as one of the members of the Objectivist group of poets. He abandoned poetry in the 1930s for political activism and moved to Mexico in 1950 to avoid the attentions ...

and

William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both ped ...

Charles Olson Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New Yor ...

and Robert Duncan, or Madeline Gins and

Shusaku Arakawa was a Japanese conceptual artist and architect. He had a personal and artistic partnership with the writer and artist Madeline Gins that spanned more than four decades in which they collaborated on a diverse range of visual mediums, including: pa ...

. Contributors to ''Aerial'' over its run of publication have included

, Carla Harryman,

Elaine Equi Elaine Equi (born 1953) is an American poet. Equi was born in Oak Park, Illinois and grew up in the Chicago area. Since 1988 she has lived in New York City with her husband, poet Jerome Sala. She currently teaches creative writing in the Master o ...

, Charles Bernstein, and

Tina Darragh Tina Darragh (born 1950) is an American poet who was one of the original members of the Language group of poets. Biography Darragh was born in Pittsburgh and grew up in the south suburb of McDonald, Pennsylvania. She began writing in 1968 and st ...

Peter Seaton Peter Seaton (December 16, 1942 – May 18, 2010) was an American poet associated with the first wave of Language poetry in the 1970s. During the opening and middle years of Language poetry many of his long prose poems were published, widely r ...

, Jerry Estrin, Leslie Scalapino, Rae Armantrout, and

Ron Silliman Ron Silliman (born August 5, 1946) is an American poet. He has written and edited over 30 books, and has had his poetry and criticism translated into 12 languages. He is often associated with language poetry. Between 1979 and 2004, Silliman w ...

are also among the eclectic mix of artists who have made an appearance in ''Aerial'' over its nearly 30-year run. Some of the magazine's poems have crossed over into mainstream acceptance, including some work featured in ''

The Best American Poetry ''The Best American Poetry'' series consists of annual poetry anthologies, each containing seventy-five poems. Background The series, begun by poet and editor David Lehman in 1988, has a different guest editor every year. Lehman, still the general ...

'' series.

References

External links

''Aerial'' magazine
Alternative magazines Poetry magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1984 Poetry organizations Small press publishing companies Magazines published in Washington, D.C. {{US-lit-mag-stub