The Death of Santa Claus

In an interview with Nathan Moore for Heavy Feather Review, Webb discusses his influences (See: Further Reading & Resources). These include Allan Ginsberg and the Beat poets, who embraced what was “shocking, antisocial, dangerous” (Moore, Nathan. “‘What Things Are Made Of’: An Interview With Charles Harper Webb.” Heavy Feather Review, 2013). Webb notes that “[he] was in high school, playing in rock bands, and those poems felt very close to rock-and-roll” (N. Moore). He was then influenced by Edward Field, Sylvia Plath, and Ron Koertje’s work in the early 1960s.

Among his more contemporary influences, he counts poets such as “James Tate, Russell Edson, Thomas Lux, Tony Hoagland, and Dean Young” as favorites (N. Moore). Some of these poets fit into the Stand Up movement in poetry, in which Webb places himself. This type of poetry is often surreal and humorous. Webb discusses the use of humor with Moore, stating, “I love humor’s subversive quality. […] It seems to me, too, that humor speaks to many of the ‘post-modern issues’ that avant-garde poetry works so hard to address, but humor does it in a more readable and entertaining way” (N. Moore). Webb employs this comical