In The American Tree
Ron Silliman (editor)
First published in 1986, with the subtitle Language: Realism: Poetry, Ron Silliman's In the American Tree was the first large-scale collection of what had come to be known as "Language Poetry." Published by the National Poetry Foundation (Orono, Maine) with textured, lichen-green wraps (designed by Francie Shaw), the book was dedicated to Larry Eigner. The edition archived here is the version reissued in 2002 with a glossy cover featuring photographs of a Robert Grenier booklet.
Silliman's anthology set out to document what followed from the rejection of a speech-based poetics and a focus instead on "what a poem is actually made of -- [...] language itself."
Silliman's anthology set out to document what followed from the rejection of a speech-based poetics and a focus instead on "what a poem is actually made of -- [...] language itself."