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Play Misty For Me
I have to admit that I’ve often been baffled by Bei Dao‘s poems. It is impossible not to admire his biography, but his poetry—”misty” in Chinese—strikes me as cryptic in English. I’m not saying that his primary translators, Bonnie S. McDougall and David Hinton, haven’t done good work; I’ve always felt that the difficulties lay in Bei Dao’s work itself, and in the cultural/political context which no introductory remarks or footnotes, however assiduous, can provide.Read More
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Friday Notebook 10.14.11
I’m posting this two days late because the calendar and I have been on the outs lately, both work and personal deadlines slipping like fish through the pirate-skeleton’s bony fingers…. A detail from Lascaux. The photographer’s watermarkdoes not date from the paleolithic. The following passages are drawn from Clayton Eshleman’s Juniper Fuse: Upper Paleolithic Imagination & the Construction of the Underworld. I’ve never developed a liking for Eshleman’s poetry, which takes up much of this book, but the prose sections are illuminating: Poetry twists toward the unknown and seeks to realize something beyond the poet’s initial awareness.Read More
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Friday Notebook 10.07.11
Some imp makes melike to scare myselfwith what-ifs * * * In those days I was in the full flush of my scientific knowledge—unaware that the dogmatic theology of science was itself a kind of folklore…. * I saw quite unmistakably that man had set astray the natural periodicity of sexuality and so forfeited his partnership with the animal kingdom.Read More
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Seeing Through the American Narrative
Linh Dinh has a terrific post on his own blog and over at Harriet on this grim anniversary. I responded to him with this comment: Linh, I’d like to add the books of Peter Dale Scott to those your post will encourage folks to read. His poetic trilogy Seculum, along with his journalistic works, especially The Road to 9/11 and The War Conspiracy, examine the deep politics behind our major post-WWII national tragedies (those we suffered and those we inflicted on others).Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
