Jimmy Pappas: Invitation to join Michael Simms on Zoom, Monday, Dec. 15, 7pm ET

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82798401678?pwd=y0TfbA9Y8MCm6xm21MFbbZQQ7AubJ2.1

Hello Everyone, 

Join us when Michael Simms presents DIRTY REALISM IN POETRY on Monday, December 15 at 7 PM ET. We will be discussing poems by Charles Bukowski, Julia Alvarez, Kristopher Collins, Michael Simms, Jan Beatty, Ed Ochester, and the poet who writes under the name The Dirty Poet.

Dirty realism is a North American literary movement that began in the 1970s and ’80s. It depicts the mundane and often bleak aspects of ordinary life using a spare, unadorned, and minimalist writing style. The term was coined by editor Bill Buford in a 1983 issue of Granta magazine to describe the prose of Tobias Wolfe, Raymond Carver, Bobbie Ann Mason and others. The term was also adopted to describe films (e.g., Midnight Cowboy, Barfly) and music (e.g., Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen). The movement has been so influential on American poetry that most poets today employ at least some of its techniques.

Characteristics of the poems and stories that have come out of Dirty Realism often include:

1. Minimalist Style: Dirty realism is often considered a variety of literary minimalism. It is characterized by an economy of language, short sentences, an absence of adverbs and extended metaphors, and a focus on surface description. 

2. Ordinary Characters: The protagonists are typically working-class or marginalized individuals such as waitresses, construction workers, or drug addicts. They often struggle with poverty, addiction, mental illness, and they lack money or prospects, leading to an internal desperation. 

3. Bleak Subject Matter: The stories unflinchingly portray the “belly-side of contemporary life” without sentimentality or melodrama, focusing on life’s disappointments, heartbreaks, and harsh realities. 

4. Detached Tone: Events are often described with a disturbing detachment that can at times verge on black comedy. 

5. Unresolved Endings: Narratives often lack traditional resolution, mirroring the uncertainty and confusion of the characters’ lives. 

Jimmy Pappas is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: A Conversation with Jimmy and Friends: Michael Simms on Dirty Realism. 
Time: Monday, December 15, 2025 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82798401678?pwd=y0TfbA9Y8MCm6xm21MFbbZQQ7AubJ2.1