SHORT FUSE: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry

SBN: 1-892494-53-1 (paperback with cd) -- $24
ISBN: 1-892494-56-6 (e-book) -- Free

Edited by Todd Swift and Philip Norton. Short Fuse is the first major global collection of poetry from the 21st-century featuring many of the poets who are defining world literature and culture. Over 175 innovative poets from around the world are represented in this remarkable 400-page volume, ebook & CD. The fusion poets define these complex times through new forms of performance and text by mixing the best of the oral and written traditions. The hundreds of poems in this eclectic and powerful gathering are ferocious, funny, erotic, elegiac, and always grounded in the real experiences and voices of our startling present. Included with this collection is a free ebook with additional poems not available in the book and a full-length CD featuring recordings by the poets. Major figures are presented alongside the most exciting younger voices. Some of the prominent poets featured in the collection are Simon Armitage, Billy Collins, Todd Colby, Patricia Smith, Bob Holman, Glyn Maxwell, Eileen Tabios, Robert Priest, Andrea Thompson, Wednesday Kennedy, Willie Perdomo, Tug Dumbly, Lucy English, Charles Bernstein, Penn Kemp, Regie Cabico, Edwin Torres, John Kinsella, Ron Silliman, Peter Finch, Guillermo Castro, Michael Hulse, Robert Priest, Nicole Blackman, David McGimpsey, Louise Bak, Golda Fried and many more. Short Fuse is the global, contemporary, and expanded extention of Poetry Nation.

Top 10 Global Books of 2002

"Scanning the globe for name and style, editors Todd Swift and Philip Norton have compiled a massive undertaking in Short Fuse. Collecting some of the brightest poems new and old, including works by Edwin Torres and U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins, this 400-page volume is sure to spark a broad range of fanfare. Including a free CD and e-book, Short Fuse weaves between traditional verse to hip-hop poetry and the breadth between. Including poets from Paris, Bombay, New York, Sydney and just about every other locale, 175 wordsmiths just can't be wrong." -- Global Rhythm Magazine, December 2002

Download Promotional Sheet (PDF)

Download eBook Formats: MS Word / Adobe PDF

"Short Fuse is not about showcasing various 'national' poetries. It is about gathering a section of the incredibly diverse range of new writing that is being done now at the start of the century, all over the world. Short Fuse is so vast in its reach, continually interesting, and so overwhelmingly strong in its content that you keep on discovering something more to it...I'll cut it off by saying that Hal Niedzviecki is right, you have to read this book. It just might be indispensable." -- Michael S. Begnal, The Burning Bush, Spring 2003, Ireland

"Short Fuse is an extraordinarily ambitious project. In addition to the 400 page book released this week by Rattapallax Press is a CD and a supplementary e-book that one can download with a password found in the hard copy. Edited by a Philip Norton, a performance poet now in Australia who was matriculating at DePaul University when Marc Smith's Green Mill poetry slam events in Chicago kicked off the slam scene in 1987, and Todd Swift, a Canadian poet with intermedia impulses now in Paris who makes a living as a television screenwriter, the 175 poets gathered into Short Fuse represent an attempt on the part of its editors to jump start what they characterize as Fusion Poetry." -- Ron Silliman

"New fusion poetry" is the newest term used by spoken-word artists to avoid calling themselves "spoken-word artists." There's enough here to keep any fan of this kind of thing busy. This is a truly global top-of-the-line collection, edited by Montrealer Todd Swift and Philip Norton (who lives in Australia), and published by a NYC indie publishing house. The "175 poets from most every place in the world where English poetry is written and performed" who are included in this collection are the crème de la crème of their art form. A CD and downloadable e-book are included. -- Melora Koepke, Hour Magazine, Montreal

Partly influenced by performance and slam poetry, much of Short Fuse owes an unacknowledged debt to "stand-up" poetry, a chatty, casual style best practiced by Ron Koertge and Billy Collins, the current U.S. Poet Laureate. But while most real poetic movements have specific stylistic or thematic constraints, the scope of "new fusion" work in Short Fuse is bizarrely diverse, featuring both good and bad, formal and free, postmodern and doggerel. -- Evan Rail, Prague Post

“Shortfuse” edited by Todd Swift & Philip Norton (Rattapallax Press, New York) The editors call it “fusion poetry” — defining it as verse which is meant to be ‘heard” as well as “read.” If possible both at the same time... In fact, these days, this urban creative phenomenon is better known as “slam.” Featuring around 200 poets, “Shortfuse” anthologizes this spontaneous streetwise poetic genre, giving it paradoxical permanency. Some people might think a book combined with live readings on an accompanying CD runs counter to slam poetry’s transient attitude, but this format actually provides a remarkable introduction to “slamming” for those who’ve yet to experience or take part in it. -- Marc Heberden & Bob Roberts, Paris Voice

"Short Fuse appears robust already in its infancy. With its fat text and compact disk (a trademark Rattapallax bonus), this anthology contains a healthy stripe of intelligence and talent. Swift and Norton have carefully stitched together layers of jagged seams to unite poets working in a wide variety of modes." --nycBigCityLit

"This essential paperback represents a Heruclean effort on the part of the editors and makes a beautiful companion volume to Todd Swift’s and Regie Cabico’s Canadian and American Fusion Poetry volume of a few years back. That fact points to the real strength of this anthology: it’s not simply a re-cycling of the safe, the tried and true, the familiar voices; it attempts to meld the old with the new, and makes a substantial case for a burgeoning new tendencies and new ways of looking at the art of poetry. Hats off to Todd Swift and Philip Norton for doing yoemen’s jobs of bringing this lot together, however; they’ve done the poetry community a huge honour in starting greater dialogue along Fusion lines, and the moniker of “essential reading” would not be too strong a recommendation: there is an abundance of excellent poetry here for any taste, and much to learn from for the poet bent on making it on the page or the stage. " -- Richard Stevenson, Lethbridge Insider

FUSE WEEK" IGNITES THE NYC LITERARY SCENE

NEW YORK, NY- In a remarkable show of solidarity and support for New York City, some of the leading global poets from the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, India, France, Budapest, Wales, and the United States among many nations will be participating in Fuse Week from October 14 to October 21, 2002. Numerous literary readings and events are scheduled at the New School, Baruch College, and library branches featuring Paul Muldoon, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Mimi Khalvati, Eamon Grennan, Srikanth Reddy, Charles Bernstein, Bob Holman, and others. The seven days of programs will focus on the fusion of world cultures and the perceptions of the United States around the world.

The week will begin with a major reading at the New School's Tishman Auditorium on October 15 at 8:00 PM to launch Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry. The event is hosted by the editors, Todd Swift and Philip Norton, and features over forty of the most innovative poets from around the world. The anthology also includes a CD and portions of the proceeds will be donated to UNICEF. Other notable events include Brit Lit: New Writing from the UK and Ireland featuring Paul Muldoon, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Mimi Khalvati, Pascale Petit, and Bernardine Evaristo on Thursday, October 17, 2002 at 7:00 PM at Engelman Recital Hall, Baruch College.

"Short Fuse is probably the most comprehensive global survey of contemporary English language poetry ever assembled. It's a defining cultural document for the start of the 21st century, so it is only fitting it should have its premiere at the heart of the world, in New York," commented Todd Swift.

A full listing of Fuse Week's programs is listed below. Additional information available at http://www.rattapallax.com/fusion.htm

The programs are sponsored by Rattapallax, Council for Literary Magazines and Presses, Poets House, New School Graduate Writing Program, Baruch Center for the Performing Arts, and Poets and Writers, Inc. This project has been assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

###

Download "Fuse Week" Press Release /
Download Schedule

BRIT LIT: NEW WRITING FROM THE UK AND IRELAND

Thursday, October 17, 2002 at 7:00 PM at Engelman Recital Hall, Baruch College 150 E. 25th St. at Lexington Avenue

NY-Leading British and Irish literary figures Paul Muldoon, Simon Armitage, Glyn Maxwell, Mimi Khalvati, Pascale Petit, and Bernardine Evaristo will participate in a major literary discussion, Brit Lit: New Writing from the UK and Ireland.

In recent years, the UK has produced a remarkable array of writers and poets who have energized the literary scene. In the wake of the tragic events on September 11, 2001 in New York City, many of these writers have published critical writing in support and against U.S. and British actions around the world and the globalization of cultures. In a rare opportunity, several of UK's and Ireland's leading editors, writers, and poets will be in New York City to discuss the state of world literature and perceptions of the United States around the world.

Simon Armitage is one of the U.K's most popular authors and is co-editor of the influential The Penguin Anthology of Poetry from Britain and Ireland. Bernardine Evaristo is the author of Lara, which won the EMMA Best Novel Award. Mimi Khalvati is founder and Coordinator of The Poetry School in London. Glyn Maxwell is the winner of the E. M. Forster Prize and Poetry Editor of the New Republic. Paul Muldoon is the winner of the T.S. Eliot award and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University and a leading figure in Irish poetry. Pascale Petit is Poetry Editor of Poetry London.

CLMP: The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses was founded in 1967 to serve independent publishers of exceptional fiction, poetry and prose. As the service and advocacy organization for these magazines and presses, CLMP guides literature through the business of publishing, while engaging diverse communities of readers through public programs. For more information please visit www.clmp.org. This program is made possible in part by the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, JP Morgan Chase and the Viburnum Foundation.

Learn more about the Short Fuse UK Tour

###