Tina Darragh (born 1950) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

who was one of the original members of the

Language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

group of poets.

Biography

Darragh was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and grew up in the south suburb of

McDonald, Pennsylvania McDonald is a borough in Allegheny and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, southwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 2,056 at the 2020 census. Of this, 1,661 were in Washington County, and 395 were in Allegheny County. G ...

. She began writing in 1968 and studied poetry in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

at Trinity University from 1970 to 1972. Between 1974 and 1976, she worked with Some of Us Press and at the Mass Transit community bookstore and writing workshop. Mass Transit, and after it Folio bookshop, became focal points for much of the poetic activity that was to result in the East Coast wing of the "Language" group, and here Darragh met other poets, including

Susan Howe Susan Howe (born June 10, 1937) is an American poet, scholar, essayist, and critic, who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among other poetry movements.

, Diane Ward, Doug Lang,

Joan Retallack Joan Retallack (born October 13, 1941) is an American poet, critic, biographer, and multi-disciplinary scholar. She is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities at Bard College where she teaches courses in poetics, poethics ...

, and P. Inman, all of whom were also to become key members of the group. She and Inman are married and live in

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental ...

. Darragh's extensive list of publications include ''on the corner to off the corner'' (1981), ''Striking Resemblance'' ( Burning Deck, 1988), ''a(gain)2 st the odds'' (1989), and ''adv. fans - the 1968 series'' (1993). Her work has been included in numerous anthologies, including the important "Language"-oriented anthology, ''In the American Tree'' (edited by

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 ...

). In 1998, her work was published in the anthology ''etruscan reader VIII'' (with

Douglas Oliver Douglas Dunlop Oliver (14 September 1937 – 21 April 2000) was a poet, novelist, editor, and educator. The author of more than a dozen works, Oliver came into poetry not as an academic but through a career in journalism, notably in Cambridge, Par ...

& Randolph Healy) and included selections from "The Dream Rim Instructions + SEE References" and "fractals <<—>> l-in-error". Darragh has also been involved in numerous collaborative efforts with others including the recent ''Belladonna Elders Series No. 8: Jane Sprague / Tina Darragh / Diane Ward'' published by Belladonna Books in 2009.This work is a collaboration in two parts: "In Conversation" (the text of a dialogue between Sprague, Darragh, and Ward) followed by hybrid (ie., mixed genre/poetry/prose) texts. The second collaborative section begins with an untitled poem ("how you'll know me") followed by "WHAT IS THE MATTER?", and "s aitting dignity". This volume concludes with "Notes for 's aitting dignity'" and a bibliography. It also contains two photographs by Ward, including the jacket cover, of the Los Angeles River.

Notes

References

External links

An interview
- dcpoetry.com

- upenn.edu

- poetryproject.com

facsimile & pdf at e c l i p s e
''etruscan reader VIII: Tina Darragh, Douglas Oliver & Randolph Healy''
link to

Salt Publishing Salt Publishing is an independent publisher whose origins date back to 1990 when poet John Kinsella launched ''Salt Magazine'' in Western Australia. The journal rapidly developed an international reputation as a leading publisher of new poetry ...

page on ''etruscan reader VIII'' with brief description of Darragh's poetics
Darragh reading her poem: ''Collective Lament for Banishing Animals from History''
Recorded 25 January 2007 at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

Doug Lang on Tina Darragh
an in-depth look at Darragh's poetry, life, and poetics.
Opposable Dumbs
downloadable ebook at zimZalla publishing.
The Other Room - interview
film of 28 minute interview for The Other Room in Manchester, UK, July 2009.
The Other Room - reading
films of reading for The Other Room in Manchester, UK, July 2009.
Guide to the Tina Darragh literary papers, 1974-2017
Special Collections Research Center, Estelle and Melvin Gelman Library, The George Washington University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Darragh, Tina 1950 births Language poets Living people Modernist women writers Writers from Pittsburgh Trinity Washington University alumni American women poets 21st-century American women