18th century literature, Absurd, Allusive, American modern, Demure, Funk, Oulipo, Smoky, Whimsical

Aestheticist fiction, Candy, Classical & biblical literature, Cultural studies/new historicism, Euphoric, Fantastic, Profane, Smoky

In his calloused hands, with dirt under his fingernails, he carried the same torch that Wordsworth and Coleridge had used to set poetry aflame. Raymond Carver employed "the language really used by men" to tell the story of the damaged white American. Broken hearts populate Carver's literary country;

Dark, Distorted, Rough, Smoky, Southern gothic, Spare, Super-realism

With titles like "Flower, Fist, and Bestial Wail," "Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness," and "Notes of a Dirty Old Man," Charles Bukowski's work is still the stuff that teenage poet-boys read on the bus. Bukowski is a movement-less poet: not a Beat or a Confes

Beat poetry, Beats, Gritty, In-your-face, Masculine, Minimal, Smoky, Wise assy