Mahcrocelebritay

Idea: a series of poems that work well on the page, but each only really kick when read aloud (or in the head, I guess) in a certain accent: "Poem to Be Read in a British Accent," "Poem to be Read in a Southern U.S. Accent"--the accent bringing out "hidden" assonance/consonance etc.

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An article by Clive Thompson on "The Age of Microcelebrity"--"the phenomenon of being extremely well known not to millions but to a small group--a thousand people, or maybe only a few dozen"--has me thinking about AWP, and of most poets as microcelebrities. However "great" John Ashbery may be, the majority of the people I know don't recognize his name. The phrase "cult favorite" or "cult classic" is applied to films or TV shows with small, extremely dedicated followings. Could the work of John Ashbery (or Dorothea Lasky, or Edwin Torres, etc) be considered a "cult favorite"? Or maybe, in order to be a "cult classic," you need to be working in a genre that frequently has mega-hits, a genre people are expected to like (TV, film)...to be underappreciated in a widely appreciated genre. Could a whole genre be a cult classic? "Poetry, a cult hit in the early 21st century..." I know part of the appeal of Jim Behrle's early poetry comics for me was that they were comics skewering celebrities known only to a few in a manner normally reserved for big ol' celebrities. A smart, funny, somewhat vicious paparazzi for the poetry crowd. Perhaps, while we may not be interested in Jessica Simpson's weight gain, we'd eat up a rag about, I don't know, Lyn Hejinian trashing a hotel room. Tangentially, as the internet moves (or companies struggle to move it) towards offering (forcing by default) a more personalized experience (the search results YOU want, the Gmail ads YOU might pay attention to), I imagine ads starring microcelebrities you (I) personally might pay attention to. John Ashbery instead of Bob Dole for Viagra. Instead of Michael Phelps for Frosted Flakes, Sarah Manguso for Frosted Flakes.