Clark Coolidge’s The Land of All Time: An Affectively Restless Ecopoem

Elina Siltanen; João Paulo Guimarães

doi:10.18778/2083-2931.13.06

Authors

Elina Siltanen University of Turku https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8478-2278
João Paulo Guimarães University of Porto https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7368-2522

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-2931.13.06

Keywords:

Clark Coolidge, ecocriticism, New York School, language poetry, affect

Abstract

Clark Coolidge (1939–) is often connected with language poetry and the New York School. The language of his poetry is opaque and disjunctive, like that of the artists associated with the first group, but it is also energetic, rambling and fast-paced. Curiously, in his most recent book, The Land of All Time (2020), Coolidge displays ecological preoccupations, the first poem in the collection, “Goodbye,” asking us to reflect upon how nature and culture are today nearly indistinguishable: “hark! an ocean as / generator see the wires? me neither oh well / there’s a heat vent somewhere in this wilderness.” In this article, we explore how Coolidge mobilizes his extreme wordiness for ecological purposes, arguing that Coolidge’s The Land of All Time proposes a model for harnessing restless affect for responding to climate change and ecological crises in a way that allows for the exploration of possibilities rather than falling prey to environmental despair. Coolidge is interested in experimenting with how to respond to extreme situations with vibrancy, speed, and flow, aligning the dynamism of language with that of nature.

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Author Biographies

Elina Siltanen, University of Turku

Dr Elina Siltanen was University Lecturer at the Department of English, University of Turku, at the time of writing the article and currently works at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research focuses on contemporary American poetry and the role of affect. Recently, she has published articles on the connections between conceptualism and confessionalism in poetry in the Journal of Modern Literature and on metamodernism and New Sincerity in English Studies. Her book, Experimentalism as Reciprocal Communication in Contemporary American Poetry: John Ashbery, Lyn Hejinian, Ron Silliman, was published by John Benjamins in 2016.
João Paulo Guimarães, University of Porto

Dr João Paulo Guimarães is Full-time Researcher at the University of Porto (ILCML). He specializes in contemporary American poetry and science studies. His first book, American Experimental Poetry and the New Organic Form, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2024. He is also currently editing two essay collections in the field of aging studies: Aging Experiments: Futures and Fantasies of Old Age and Fear of Aging: Old Age in Horror Fiction and Film.

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