Jim Cohn
Encyclopedia
Jim Cohn is a poet
, poetry
activist, and spoken word artist in the United States. He was born in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1953. Early poetics and musical influences include Bob Dylan, the subject of a now lost audiotaped for a class project completed in his senior year at Shaker Heights High School, where he also co-captained the varsity football team. He received a BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder
in English (1976) and a Certificate of Poetics (1980) from the Jack Kerouac School
of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University
where he was a teaching assistant to Allen Ginsberg
. He received his M.S. Ed. in English and Deaf Education from the University of Rochester
and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf
(NTID) in 1986. For over two decades, he worked in the field of disability services, taking a siddha approach as a model of Disability Services and Studies practice and scholarship. He believed that the social sciences should be redefined thematically within the United States into a form of American Karmic Studies.
He introduced Allen Ginsberg to Deaf poets at NTID in 1984. In 1986, he published a groundbreaking essay entitled "The New Deaf Poetics: Visible Poetry" in Sign Language Studies (52). In 1987, he coordinated the first National Deaf Poetry Conference, in Rochester, NY. The importance of his role in the history of American Sign Language (ASL) poetics was documented in a 2009 film by Miriam Nathan Lerner entitled The Heart of the Hydrogen Jukebox.
In 1990, he began serving as editor to annual poetry magazine, Napalm Health Spa. In 2009, Napalm Health Spa enjoyed its twentieth year of continuous publication.
In 1995, Jim began his recording career with The Abolitionists, a North Bay Area band that featured Mooka Rennick and guitarist Steve Kimock
. He began a solo recording artist career beginning with Unspoken Words in 1998. From 2006-2008, he worked on homage, a spoken word and music recording made upon the death of his mother. In 2009, he released Impermanence, a double CD compilation.
In 1996, Jim began planning for an online poetry project that would explore Beat Generation
influences on the Postbeat Poets. In 1997, Jim founded the on-line Museum of American Poetics. In 1999, MAP became the first online poetry site to be mentioned in the New York Times.
Jim published his first collection of prose that same year, exploring the theoretical parallels between ASL and modernist poetries in a book entitled Sign Mind: Studies in American Sign Language Poetics.
Jim's first video production, the American Poet Greats series, won the Best Multimedia Award from Community Television in Boulder, Colorado for three year in a row (2001-2003). In 2003, Jim produced his first film, a 55 minute profile on the life and poetic contributions of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics
co-founder Anne Waldman
, entitled Anne Waldman: Makeup on Empty Space.
In a 2011 review of Cohn's Sutras & Bardos: Essays & Interviews on Allen Ginsberg, the Kerouac School, Anne Waldman, The Postbeat Poets & the New Demotics, Beat Studies scholar Jonah Raskin
wrote "Perhaps no one in the United States today understands and appreciates the poetic durability and the cultural elasticity of the Beats better than Jim Cohn."
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
activist, and spoken word artist in the United States. He was born in Highland Park, Illinois, in 1953. Early poetics and musical influences include Bob Dylan, the subject of a now lost audiotaped for a class project completed in his senior year at Shaker Heights High School, where he also co-captained the varsity football team. He received a BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado...
in English (1976) and a Certificate of Poetics (1980) from the Jack Kerouac School
Jack Kerouac School
The Jack Kerouac School was founded at Naropa University in 1974 by Chögyam Trungpa, and Beat Generation poets Allen Ginsbergand Anne Waldman. The school consists of the Summer Writing Program and the Department of Writing and Poetics, which administers the Master of Fine Arts in Writing and...
of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University
Naropa University
Naropa University is a private American liberal arts university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher and Oxford University scholar Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda.Naropa describes itself as...
where he was a teaching assistant to Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
. He received his M.S. Ed. in English and Deaf Education from the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing...
(NTID) in 1986. For over two decades, he worked in the field of disability services, taking a siddha approach as a model of Disability Services and Studies practice and scholarship. He believed that the social sciences should be redefined thematically within the United States into a form of American Karmic Studies.
Career
In 1980, Jim Cohn published his first collection of poems, Green Sky. In 1989 Prairie Falcon was published by North Atlantic Books. He would follow up this work with five more books of poetry and two works of poetics nonfiction.He introduced Allen Ginsberg to Deaf poets at NTID in 1984. In 1986, he published a groundbreaking essay entitled "The New Deaf Poetics: Visible Poetry" in Sign Language Studies (52). In 1987, he coordinated the first National Deaf Poetry Conference, in Rochester, NY. The importance of his role in the history of American Sign Language (ASL) poetics was documented in a 2009 film by Miriam Nathan Lerner entitled The Heart of the Hydrogen Jukebox.
In 1990, he began serving as editor to annual poetry magazine, Napalm Health Spa. In 2009, Napalm Health Spa enjoyed its twentieth year of continuous publication.
In 1995, Jim began his recording career with The Abolitionists, a North Bay Area band that featured Mooka Rennick and guitarist Steve Kimock
Steve Kimock
-External links:** at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at the Internet Archive's live music archive* at Internet Archive's live music archive*, San Francisco, April 3, 1999*, Unofficial Fan Forum...
. He began a solo recording artist career beginning with Unspoken Words in 1998. From 2006-2008, he worked on homage, a spoken word and music recording made upon the death of his mother. In 2009, he released Impermanence, a double CD compilation.
In 1996, Jim began planning for an online poetry project that would explore Beat Generation
Beat generation
The Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
influences on the Postbeat Poets. In 1997, Jim founded the on-line Museum of American Poetics. In 1999, MAP became the first online poetry site to be mentioned in the New York Times.
Jim published his first collection of prose that same year, exploring the theoretical parallels between ASL and modernist poetries in a book entitled Sign Mind: Studies in American Sign Language Poetics.
Jim's first video production, the American Poet Greats series, won the Best Multimedia Award from Community Television in Boulder, Colorado for three year in a row (2001-2003). In 2003, Jim produced his first film, a 55 minute profile on the life and poetic contributions of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics
Jack Kerouac School
The Jack Kerouac School was founded at Naropa University in 1974 by Chögyam Trungpa, and Beat Generation poets Allen Ginsbergand Anne Waldman. The school consists of the Summer Writing Program and the Department of Writing and Poetics, which administers the Master of Fine Arts in Writing and...
co-founder Anne Waldman
Anne Waldman
Anne Waldman is an American poet.Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the “Outrider” experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activist....
, entitled Anne Waldman: Makeup on Empty Space.
In a 2011 review of Cohn's Sutras & Bardos: Essays & Interviews on Allen Ginsberg, the Kerouac School, Anne Waldman, The Postbeat Poets & the New Demotics, Beat Studies scholar Jonah Raskin
Jonah Raskin
Jonah Raskin is an American writer who left an East Coast university teaching position to participate in the 1970s radical counterculture as a free-lance journalist, then returned to the academy in California in the 1980s to write probing studies of Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg and reviews of...
wrote "Perhaps no one in the United States today understands and appreciates the poetic durability and the cultural elasticity of the Beats better than Jim Cohn."
Discography
- Impermanence 2008, MusEx Records
- homage 2007, MusEx Records
- Trashtalking Country 2006, MusEx Records
- Emergency Juke Joint 2002, MusEx Records
- Antenna 2000, MusEx Records
- Unspoken Words 1998, MusEx Records
- Walking Thru Hell Gazing at Flowers 1996, MusEx Records
- The Road 1995, MusEx Records
External links
- Official Site
- Museum of American Poetics
- farfalla press
- Counter Punch: Poets' Basement
- Logos Journal
- Project MUSE
- echo nyc
- Wesley Lake
- Poetry Picks: The Best of 2004
- A review of “Antenna” by Michael Basinski
- A review of "Sign Mind: Studies in American Sign Language Poetics" by Christopher Krentz
- Interview with Rob Geisen, Illiterate Magazine
- Review of Sutras & Bardos: Essays & Interviews on Allen Ginsberg, the Kerouac School, Anne Waldman, The Postbeat Poets & the New Demotics by Jonah Raskin