Larry Eigner (1927 - February 3, 1996) was an American poet associated with the group of poets that centered around Charles Olson at Black Mountain College in the mid 20th Century.
Eigner is one of the lesser known Black Mountain poets, although he was influential among the next generations' Language poets, particularly Ron Silliman and Charles Bernstein, both of whom are on record as admirers of his work. Highlighting Eigner's influence on the "Language School" of poetry, his work often appeared in L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Magazine, and was featured on the front page of its inaugural issue which debuted in February 1978.
Eigner suffered from severe Cerebral palsy among other physical disabilities, and his parents believed that he was incapable of language until he taught himself to use a typewriter in his teens. The physical act of writing took more effort for him, and the physicality of each line is something that Silliman has remarked on repeatedly on his widely read poetry weblog. Charles Bukowski once called him the "greatest living poet."[1]
References
External links
- Eigner's online tribute/obituary page at SUNY-Buffalo's Electronic Poetry Center
- Larry Eigner Author Homepage at EPC
- Essay on Eigner's poetry in 'Jacket'
- Larry Eigner Papers housed at Stanford University
- Reading Eigner and readiness / enough / depends / on Poet and indefatigable blogger Ron Silliman discusses a recent Eigner (posthumous) publication
- Air the Trees Originally published by Black Sparrow Press in 1968 and long out of print, the text is presented here on-line and complete
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