Free Verse: Kenneth Goldsmith

With the simple act of transcription, Kenneth Goldsmith critiques the cherished values of creativity and originality in writing. Following the traditions of Marcel Duchamp’s readymades, Andy Warhol’s borrowed images, and sampling in contemporary music, Goldsmith investigates appropriation as a valid literary practice via this proposition: “If Cage claimed that any sound can be music, then properly framed, any language can be poetry.” The author of eight volumes of poetry, founding editor of the online archive UbuWeb (ubu.com), and editor of the book I’ll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews, Goldsmith also hosts a weekly radio show on New York’s WFMU.