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A Fond Adieu to Yves Bonnefoy
Yesterday I happened to finish Ben Lerner‘s crafty and subtle monograph, The Hatred of Poetry, and a few hours later, while Lerner’s essay was still effervescing in my brain, discovered that Yves Bonnefoy had died a day before (Friday, July 1), in Paris. The first reports I saw (Radio France and the BBC) were sketchy and perfunctory. A more in-depth obituary appears in Le Monde, though I had to suffer through a Google translation to read it.Read More
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Three Pensieri by Leopardi
Since I can think of nothing more ridiculous than reviewing a book of aphorisms, which must speak for themselves even more completely than poems do, I’m simply offering up some of my favorites from Leopardi’s Pensieri (I quoted from another in an earlier post). The Roman numeral following each refers to the Louisiana State University Press edition, Pensieri: A Bilingual Edition, translated and introduced by W. S. Di Piero.Read More
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An Ancient Custom
This I find delicious: If I had Cervantes’ genius, just as he purged Spain of the imitation of knights errant, I too would write a book purging Italy–indeed, the entire civilized world–of […] the habit of reading or reciting one’s own compositions to others. This very ancient custom was in past centuries a tolerable misery, since it was rare. But today, when everybody can write and when the hardest thing to find is someone who is not an author, this practice has become a scourge, a public calamity, one of life’s newest hardships.Read More
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A Bitter Fatigue, Volume Two
In a comment on a previous post of mine, James (of ursprache fame) referred me to Leopardi and the Theory of Poetry. I haven’t picked up the book yet, but the referral did send me back to my library for a fresh look at Leopardi’s Pensieri, piquantly translated by W. S. Di Piero. Right off the bat, I found Leopardi speaking to our current distress vis-à-vis the banking industry from his superior vantage point in 1837: I say that the world is a league of scoundrels against men of generosity, of base men against men of good will.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. 
