Michael Palmer is one of the few contemporary experimental or innovative poets whose books, which began to be published in the early 1970s, have been noticed by a fairly broad readership. While the words experimental and innovative have become blurb-copy terms that often marginalize the very work they seek to promote, Palmer has created a body of work that deserves to be known by as many readers as possible, and it is perhaps a hopeful sign that, in an American culture that has little use for poetry, he has had some degree of success. His work has been important to publishers, poets, and readers interested in alternative poetry, not just in the United States but also in Canada, France, England, Denmark, and elsewhere.

In the United States, Palmer has been significantly represented in most of the journals devoted to experimental writing, from Acts, Avec, Conjunctions, o-blek, and Exact...