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The Visible and the Invisible
Over at Issa’s Untidy Hut this quote appeared this morning, from the introduction to a new translation of poems by the great imaginal poet René Char. The introduction and translations were done by Gustaf Sobin, who essentially apprenticed with Char while living in France in the 1960s. Sobin remarks: René Char taught me, first, to read particulars: that the meticulously observed detail, drawn from nature, could provide the key to the deepest reaches of the imaginary.Read More
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Unity and Disunity
Speaking of Bashō’s famous frog poem, Nobuyuki Yuasa writes: “On the surface the poem describes an action of the frog and its after-effects — a perfect example of objectivity. But if you meditate long enough upon the poem, you will discover that the action thus described is not merely an external one, that it also exists internally, that the pond is, indeed, a mirror held up to reflect the author’s mind.Read More
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But the List, and My List!
On his blog about 10 days back, Javier Huerta floated this idea: List “20 poetry books (if there are twenty) that made you fall in love with poetry, the books that made you think: I want to do this, I need to do this.Read More
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300-Year-Old News….
I just cashed in a book store gift card from Christmas (thanks, Joe and Esther!), picking up a copy of Basho: The Complete Haiku, translated by Jane Reichhold.Read More
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Crossroads
If you’ve ever wondered if all this folderol is worth doing—blogging, I mean—consider above all the way it helps to open us up to people and views we might otherwise never encounter. How well these things serve as crossroads…. Case in point of : James Stotts, a recently added “follower” of this blog, has a blog of his own, where he muses on the Muse and issues of translation.Read More
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Reading Journal 2009, Entry 1
My cyber-friend, the indefatigable poet/fictioneer/raconteur/dream-journalist William Michaelian, occasionally posts news of books discovered at various used-book haunts. As an addict of used—no, not “pre-owned”—books and the stores that stock them (my wife and I owned such a store for a few years), I always enjoy these posts. And so I’ve decided to post my own “reading journal,” most of which will deal with used books. I rarely buy new books, in part because my reading appetite is bigger than my budget, and in part because used book stores thrive on a level of serendipity I happen to love.Read More
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The World We Live In…
I was charmed by Ana’s recent post and thought I’d try to bring it over into English. GRIME If the world we live inis a mirror that reflects our deepest desires,thoughts and intentions,it looks like we’re really quite foul. The home-made window cleanerInstructs:Mix equal parts white vinegar and water.Pour into a spray bottle.With this liquid wash away the shadows built up inside(doubts, dreads, selfishness, rage, hate, traumas,vengeance, escapism, fanaticism, manipulation,anxiety, lack of compassion…). Warning:Process can take a lifetime.Read More
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The Dilemma of Multiple Translations
Ron Slate has a thorough and thoughtful review here of the recently released Songbook: Selected Poems of Umberto Saba, from Yale University Press. If my pockets weren’t empty of everything but balls of lint I’d snap up a copy, but this publication—as sometimes happens with translations—presents a dilemma: I already have a copy of Songbook: Selected Poems from the Canzoniere of Umberto Saba, published in 1998 by The Sheep Meadow Press.Read More
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The Openness of Coral Bracho
Readers of this blog know I’m a fan of openness. But defining “openness” is impossible: the very nature of it defies definition. And it’s easy to confuse it with “anything goes.” I once fell to arguing with a friend who insisted that anything an artist says is art is art; some poets have made the same assertion for their own writing. Can I be a fan of openness without sharing that assertion? I guess it comes down to suggesting the kinds of openness I’m actually a fan of.Read More
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Discovering Luljeta Lleshanaku
A while back, in my favorite new/used bookstore (lately defunct, I hate to say—more on that in a future post), I stumbled on Fresco: Selected Poetry of Luljeta Lleshanaku. Lleshanaku is Albanian, and what do I know about Albania? Absolutely nothing! So this discovery has been a double one: a country known as Illyricum in ancient times but dominated in the 20th century by brutal Stalinist regimes, and a young woman born to write poetry in an age of repression and transition.Read More