Agenda Melt - Tapa blanda

A capacious tent of splendor in a gender veldt, Agenda Melt, Elmslie's third book with visuals by Trevor Winkfield, juxtaposes new poems and theatre lyrics culled from his musicals: The Grass Harp, cult classic, and three works-in-progress--Lola, Night Emerald, and Lingo Land, a revue of his songs and poems in which he is slated to make his off-Broadway debut. His recent books include Cyberspace (Granary Books) and Snippets (Tibor de Nagy Editions), both with Winkfield artwork, Blast from the Past (Skanky Possum Press), Postcards on Parade, a musical play (Bamberger Books) and Routine Disruptions (Coffee House Press).

"There's a lot of heart in his poems--really these songs, because they come from a ranging mastery of everything from classical opera to old-time Country Western. Kenward Elmslie tells the insistent tales of our tribe with great humor and seemingly endless invention."--Robert Creeley.

As a member of the first generation New York School of Poets, Kenward Elmslie introduced contemporary poetry to Broadway in the form of musicals. Among his many books of poetry, Kenward Elmslie has also created work for the musical stage: Postcards on Parade, City Junket, and an adaptation of Truman Capote's The Grass Harp. Elmslie also created the operas Washington Square, Miss Julie, Lizzie Borden, and an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's, The Seagull involved collaboration with the composers Jack Beeson, Ned Rorem and Thomas Pasatieri.