Dept. of Continuous Peasantry

Chris Stroffolino is broadcasting himself from a continent I wish I had bigger on my globe.

Intrigued too by his “book of questions” response to this query in Jeffrey Side's The Argotist Online about pop music and poetry:

Q: Why do you think songs are more popular with people than poetry is?

A: Does most poetry want to be popular with people? Do most people who write poetry hope it will reach a mass audience? Do most poets like performing their poetry? Do they want to be on TV? Do they need to dress up and make themselves ‘a motley to the view?’ Are Shakespeare’s plays poetry? Is any particular Tom Waits song as popular as the image of Tom Waits? Is the media to blame for not giving poetry a chance? Is it a form of ‘market censorship’? Was Allen Ginsberg’s Howl really, as a recent anthology claimed, the poem that changed America? Are most songs really that popular? Or are they only sonic wallpaper for many these days? Are songs more popular in England than they are in America? Why are sports and “reality TV shows” more popular in America than either songs or poetry? Are these questions your readers would sincerely address (or try to answer)? If I put them to music, or made a book of nothing but such questions, could it be called art (and would that get in the way of people taking the questions as sincere?).

Then there's the political blogging on Barak Obama and the music biz.

Viva la Stroffolino.