My favorite book of poems for 2009 so far. And a long time a-coming. But finally here it is: as close as possible to a Douglas Rothschild “Collected.” The pleasure of Theogony starts in the hand: the square format, perfectly suited to the work, and the pleasant, solid, yet casual heft of its 210 pages. The pleasure goes on in the eye: the cover photograph by Drew Gardner (see … Read more Douglas Rothschild's Theogony
This via the Swedish COPYRIOT site, which provides a translation of & helpful introductory note by rasmus on Swedish poet Lars Gustafsson’s article on copyright & the controversies raging loudly in Europe right now on such matters (while, it seems to me, here in the US it’s more or less a non-issue at least for the poetry community): Lars Gustafsson is probably Sweden’s most profilic living writer. Since the … Read more Lars Gustafsson as Pirate
Spent the last 2 days at Bard College for my 40th reunion and the 09 commencement ceremonies. Commencement speaker was New York governor Patterson — his speech seemed to be directed more to a technological/scientific institution than to Bard, and his best line was a quote from Mario Cuomo. Come back, Mario & Son! For the rest, it was lovely, disconcerting, hilarious, sadsack, scary, etc. to meet up with … Read more The Cemetery at Bard
Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglorious Basterds was presented Wednesday at the Cannes Festival. Here a classic Cannes hoopla shot from Libération’s daily coverage of the occasion: TQ flanked by actresses Melanie Laurent and Diane Kruger, in front of great paparazzi wallpaper (are they photographing the lucky photographer up front or the backs of the trio?). & here Alain Resnais who was there to present Les herbes folles with Mathieu Amalric, … Read more Classic Cannes
The following just in via Facebook — do buy (at least) one of their books immediately! SALT is one of our major poetry publishers & its disappearance would be a true disaster: Subject: HELP SALT PUBLISHING STAY AFLOAT – Appeal from Salt Publishing – From Jen Hamilton-Emery: As many of you will know, Chris and I have been struggling to keep Salt moving since June last year when the … Read more HELP SALT PUBLISHING STAY AFLOAT
Last December I posted the opening of Paul Celan’s radio-essay on Osip Mandelstam — which you can read here — and earlier still some the notes Celan wrote when composing the radio-essay — which you can read here. Both come from the German variorum edition of Der Meridian, the translation of which I am finally completing these days & which should come out next year from Stanford University Press. … Read more Mandelstam via Celan (2)
I had been worried about this even amidst the euphoria of Obama’s election, as his pre-election kowtowing to AIPAC had given a foretaste of things to come, i.e. that in terms of US-Israel nothing would change in the post-Bush era. And indeed it looks like we are going down the same old road, a sad turn of events as the recent visit of Benjamin Netanyahu has shown. Here are … Read more Palestine: Plus ça change…
The below just in via the ThinkProgess site, & with the dismal news of the democratic majority voting to neuter environmental lesgislation, looks like its business as usual in D.C. GM cleanup of the Bedford Superfund site. President Barack Obama has nominated a lawyer for the nation’s largest toxic polluters to run the enforcement of the nation’s environmental laws. On Tuesday, Obama “announced his intent to nominate” Ignacia S. Moreno … Read more Obama Nominates Superfund Polluter Lawyer To Run DOJ Environment Division
Last night’s Jack Spicer Celebration (Panel & Reading), ostensibly for the publication of My Vocabulary Dis This To Me: The Collected Poems of Jack Spicer, at The Poetry Project & co-sponsored by Poets House, was an excellent & moving affair. That it happened on the very day Robin Blaser was buried, added a tinge of sadness — but maybe also a dimension of depth. Thus when Kevin Killian recounted … Read more Jack Spicer NYC Celebration
German poet, memoirist, painter, sculptor & musician Günter Ullmann died last week. He was born in East Germany in 1946 and as he writes: “My mother was a Christian, my father was a party member, so I prayed for the victory of the Algerian FLN over the French colonialists.” In 1966, inspired by the Beatles, he started his own band (called “media nox” after the first name “the rats” was … Read more Günter Ullmann (1946-2009)