I have two books of
I have two books of contemporary poetry titled Poems for the Millenium. They're big, fat, colorful collections of modern and postmodern poetry, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris. Great books. But I rarely seem to read any of the poems. This is because each poet's section ends with a quote from him or her, usually on the subject of his/her craft, and then a short bio about the poet written by Joris and Rothenberg. I always go to the poems and try to read them but then get sidetracked and skip right to the quotes/bios instead. So I know what you mean, dj. The narrative arc of a life, and a short pithy quote--well, how can any poem compare?
Other than such distractions, I don't think there's anything wrong with authorial obsessions.
I definitely need to see this new picture of Smith. Also, I need to read her short story. By the way, she has one over at nealpollack.com (is that spelled right?), but I'm too lazy to find the link right now. Yeah, she has a story in the Nick "Horny" collection. So does Dave Eggers, actually.
And I must read DeLillo's new book. Can you loan it to me? And what's so enigmatic about him? His studied reticence and reclusiveness (which, in itself, is actually overhyped)? Or just the fact that he's so damn brilliant? I will tell you this: a key to his work is Samuel Beckett. At some point, I will write a dissertation on the subject. You'll see it here first.