Archive for the ‘poetry’ Tag
What’s on my desk / what I’m working on
Filed under: The Brouillon | Tags: bibliographies, poetry, poetry criticism
Comments (2) In a conversation I was lucky enough to have had this week with a long-standing, younger poet-friend, I was asked, half out of curiosity and half in challenge, just what contemporary poets I’m reading these days.
In answer, I append the bibliography below, which lists all the books on my desk that I’m
presently reading, either as part of larger projects (a talk on Peter Dale Scott and the post-secular I’m giving at the end of the month, or research into modes of poetic political engagement, or the ways poetry brings itself into relation with philosophy), or toward writing notices and reviews, or just for the sake of maintaining some small idea of what’s going on in contemporary world poetry.
Of course, which writers might be said to alive is more a matter of their art than their pulse.
What I’m reading
Angles, Jeffrey, trans. Poems of Hiromi Itō, Toshiko Hirata, & Takako Arai. Newtown: Vagabond Press, 2016.
Armantrout, Rae. Versed. Middletown: Weseleyan University Press. 2009.
Arsenev, Pavel. Spasm of Accommodation. Oakland: Commune Editions, 2017.
Badiou, Alain. Being and Event, trans. Feltham, Oliver. London: Continuum, 2007.
—Philosophy for Militants, trans. Bosteels, Bruno. London: Verso, 2015.
—The Age of the Poets And Other Writings on Twentieth-Century Poetry and Prose, ed. and trans. Bosteels, Bruno. London: Verso, 2014.
—The Communist Hypothesis, trans. Macey and Corcoran. Bosteels, Bruno. London: Verso, 2015.
Balestrini, Nanni. Blackout, trans. Valente, Peter. Oakland: Commune Editions, 2017.
Berg, Aase. With Deer, trans. Johannes Göransson. Boston: Black Ocean, 2008.
Blandiana, Ana. My Native Land A4, trans. Derrick and Patea. Hexham: Bloodaxe Books, 2014.
Bohinc, Katy. Dear Alain. New York: Tender Buttons Press, 2014.
Borzutsky, Daniel. The Book of Interfering Bodies. Callicoon: Nightboat Books, 2011.
Bradford, David. A Star is Boring. Montreal: Self-published, 2016.
—Call Out. Toronto: Knife Fork Books, 2017.
Clover, Joshua. Red Epic. Oakland: Commune Editions, 2015.
Collis, Stephen. Once in Blockadia. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2016.
Copi, Irving M. Symbolic Logic, Fifth ed. New York: Macmillan, 1979.
Derrida, Jacques and Vattimo, Gianni, eds. Religion. Standford: Standford University Press, 1998.
Dick, Mina Pam. Delinquent. New York: Futurepoems Books, 2009.
Eckerlin, Jesse. Thrush. Windsor: Biblioasis, 2016.
—We Are Not The Bereaved. Victoria: Frog Hollow Press, 2012.
Gewanter, David. The Sleep of Reason. Chicago: University Press of Chicago, 2003.
Gilbert, Sandra M. Kissing the Bread: New and Selected Poems 1969-1999. New York: Norton, 2000.
Gleize, Jean-Marie. Tarnac, A Preparatory Act, trans. Clover, et al. Chicago: Kenning Editions, 2014.
Golynko, Dmitry. As It Turned Out, ed. Ostashevsky, Eugene, trans. Ostashevsky, et al. New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2008.
Goyette, Sue ed. The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology 2017. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2017.
Graham, Jorie. Fast. New York: Harper Collins, 2017.
Habermas, Jürgen. Between Naturalism and Religion, trans. Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge: Polity, 2008.
—Postmetaphysical Thinking: Philosophical Essays, trans. William Mark Hohengarten. Cambridge: MIT, 1992.
—Postmetaphysical Thinking II: Essays and Replies, trans. Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge: Polity, 2017.
—Religion and Rationality: Essays on Reason, God, and Modernity, ed. Eduardo Mandieta. Cambridge: MIT, 2002.
—The Future of Human Nature. Cambridge: Polity, 2003.
—et al. The Awareness of What is Missing. Cambridge: Polity, 2010.
Hall, Phil. The Small Nouns Crying Faith. Toronto: BookThug, 2013.
Hartnett, Stephen John. Incarceration Nation: Investigative Prison Poems of Hope and Terror. Walnut Creek: Altamira, 2003.
Hecht, Jamey. Limousine Midnight Blue. Los Angeles: Red Hen Press, 2009.
Heighton, Steven. The Walking Comes Late. Toronto: House of Anansi, 2016.
Heller, Michael. Dianoia. New York: Nightboat Books, 2016.
Itō, Hiromi. Killing Kanoko: Selected Poems of Hiromi Itō, trans. Angles, Jeffrey. Notre Dame: Action Books, 2009.
—Wild Grass on the Riverbank, trans. Angles, Jeffrey. Notre Dame: Action Books, 2014.
Jäderlund, Ann. Which had once been a meadow, trans. Johannes Göransson. New York: Black Square Press, 2017.
Johnson, Ronald. Ark. Chicago: Flood Editions, 2013.
Jönson, Johan. Collobert Orbital, trans, Göransson, Johannes. Displaced Press, 2009.
Lachman, Gary. Lost Knowledge of the Imagination. Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2017.
Lau, David. Still Dirty: Poems 2009-15. Oakland: Commune Editions, 2016.
Mackey, Nathaniel. School of Udhra. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1993.
McKinnon, Barry. I Wanted to Say Something. Red Deer: Red Deer College Press, 1990.
Medvedev, Kirill. It’s No Good, trans. Gessen et al. New York: n + 1 and Ugly Duckling Presse, 2012.
Mendieta and Vanantwerfepen, eds. The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
Mancini, Donato. SAME DIFF. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2017.
Moure, Erin. O Cadoiro. Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2007.
Neveau, Chantal. A Spectactular Influence, trans. Nathanaël. Toronto: BookThug, 2015.
Parra, Nicanor. Antipoems: How to look better & feel great, trans. Werner, Liz. New York: New Directions Press, 2004.
Ed. Ray, David. From the Hungarian Revolution. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1966.
Rilke, Rainer Maria. The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, ed. & trans. Mitchell, Stephen. New York: Vintage, 1984.
Eds. Rothenberg and Bloomberg-Rissman. Barbaric Vast & Wild: A Gathering of Outside and Subterranean Poetry from Origins to the Present. Boston: Black Widow Press, 2015.
Sartre, Jean Paul. What is Literature? Trans. Frechtman, Bernard. New York: Routledge, 2001.
Scott, Peter Dale. Coming to Jakarta. Toronto: M&S, 1988.
— Coming to Jakarta. New York, New Directions Press, 1988.
—Listening to the Candle. Toronto: M&S, 1992.
— Listening to the Candle. New York, New Directions Press, 1992.
—Minding the Darkness. New York, New Directions Press, 2000.
—Mosaic Orpheus. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2009.
Silliman, Ron. Revelator. Toronto: BookThug, 2013.
—The Alphabet. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama Press, 2008.
Smith, Dale. Sons. Toronto: Knife Fork Books, 2017.
Sommer, Richard. Cancer Songs. Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2011.
Tremblay, Bill. Magician’s Hat: Poems on the Life and Work of David Alfonso Siqueiros. Spokane: Lynx House Press, 2013.
Vogelweide, Walther von. Gedichte, ed. Wapnewski, Peter. Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 2006.
Walsøe-Engel, Ingrid. German Poetry From The Beginnings to 1750. New York: Continuum, 1992.
Wilderson III, Frank B. Sideways Between Stories. Oakland: Commune Editions, 2016.
Williamson, Alan. Res Publica. University Press of Chicago, 1998.
Xiaoyu, Qin. Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Migrant Worker Poetry, trans. Goodman, Eleanor. Buffalo: White Pine Press, 2016.
Yépez, Heriberto. Transnational Battle Field. Oakland: Commune Editions, 2017.
NaPoMo (5): Some Praises of the May King
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: National Poetry Month, poetry, translation
Leave a comment What’s Lebendig’
Welcher Lebendige, Sinnbegabte, liebt nicht vor allen Wundererscheiunungen des verbreiteten Raums um ihn, das allerfreuliche Licht—mit seinen Farben, seinen Strahlen und Wogen; seiner milden Allgegenwart, als weckender Tag. / What living person, gifted with any sense, doesn’t love, more than all the wonderful appearances of spread-out space around him, the all-joyful Light—with its colors, beams, waves; its gentle presence, as waking day.—Hymnen an die Nacht, trans. Dick Higgins
Marks in, walking home, looking
in the used book store,
stroking the one friendly, fluffy
cat, intervening in a theological
dispute at the cash quoting
Spinoza in Latin and Daisetz
Suzuki summing up an evening’s
philosophical chit-chat: “That’s what
I like about metaphysics—nobody
wins!” —stopping by the last
independent English-language bookstore, browsing
the poetry and philosophy, weighing
whether to buy a volume
or two but resolving just
to get the book I
ordered, paying off the dentist
for the new gold crown,
noticing Spring’s first green lush
after two weeks rain now
in intense sun, shaking up
a double martini or two,
commenting cante jondo on Facebook
to buck up a heartbroken
friend, priming a new withering
blog post “our postmetaphysical age”
sending me to Metaphysica Alpha
One: “the senses are loved
for themselves, especially sight,” reading
Hymnen an die Nacht aloud,
“Du kommst, Geliebte—” as Petra
opens the door, parsing that
first sentence together (…who doesn’t
love over and above appearance
spread out light, its colours,
rays and waves, gently everywhere
like the dawn?), philologizing Lebendige,
alive”, “Son of the ever-living”,
the senses of Sinn in
Sinnbegabte, allgegenwart, (omnipresent) everywhere.
NaPoMo (n+4): an occasional satire
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: Conrad Black, National Poetry Month, poetry, Rex Murphy, The National Post, Wiliam Butler Yeats
Comments (4) First Night in Toronto
In the Royal York’s Library Bar next table
the retired scholar with wife and two old friends
from New York discussing Trump quotes Yeats
What rough beast… In our hotel room
the front page of the complimentary copy
of The National Post features a full-page, colour ad
for Mizrahi Developments’ luxury condo tower project,
a column by Lord Conrad Black The inability to lead
on pipelines will be the Prime Minister’s ruin…
We will find out soon enough if climate is changing…
In another Rex Murphy sings back up with thesaurus.
NaPoMo (n+3): a clarification
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: climate change, National Poetry Month, poetry
Comments (2) The two or three poems inspired yesterday by a Guardian interview with social scientist Mayer Hillman (see the two previous posts), also prompted one reader to comment on the poems, two of which use Mayer’s own words expressing the sentiment that, given civilization is doomed, we’d be better to attend other, more pleasant matters, such as music, love, education, and happiness.
The comment inadvertently touched on the issue of the truth of poetry and the poet’s relation to the thoughts expressed by the words of the poem, that yesterday’s three, impromptu poems might suggest some agreement with Hillman’s gloom and prescriptions.
Five years back mulling over the same matter I composed an ironic indictment, which, 
after some little fiddling this morning, turned out, spontaneously, to be the fourteen-line poem that follows. Whether it provides any clarification as to my own stance on the issue, I leave to the reader.
Chance Sonnet:
“BE IT RESOLVED…”
BE IT RESOLVED that
whereas public officials
who deny the reality
of Anthropogenic Climate Change
and hinder efforts to mitigate
its destructive effects present
a clear and present danger
to themselves and others,
said public officials should be
removed from office forthwith
and placed under a physician’s care
until such time as their suicidal
and/or homocidal and/or ecocidal
tendencies cease to present.
NaPoMo (n+2): Two for Mayer Hillman
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: climate change, Mayer Hillman, National Poetry Month, poetry
Comments (6) Two for Mayer Hillman
1.
So much depends
upon
fossil fuels except
music,
love, education, and
happiness.
Focus on these
things.
2.
Asked what he would do were the world to end
next day, Luther replied, “Plant an apple tree.”
NaPoMo (n): a serendipitous poem
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: climate change, Mayer Hillman, National Poetry Month, poetry, Shawn Bell
Comments (2) Combing through with no small pleasure the Seculum trilogy of Peter Dale Scott, 
preparing a talk I’m to give at a humanities conference at the end of May, I wound up at the same time in a short Facebook thread back and forth with a teaching colleague, which inspires the improvised poem, dedicated to him, below:
So many aspects of life
For Shawn Bell, composer
We read the same Guardian article
this morning, though you chose to share it.
Mayer Hillman, 86: We’re doomed
…making a case for [re?]cycling…
is almost irrelevant. We’ve got to stop
burning fossil fuels. I commented
you’d forgotten his most important words:
Standing in the way is capitalism
Your reply in its current form
and though I am not unacquainted
with Isaiah’s singing the lion shall lie down
with the lamb and I’m the first
to remark the confusion of first
and second nature in Adorno’s
If the lion had a consciousness
his rage at the antelope he wants
to eat would be ideology
I answered The dream of postwar
social democracy that capitalism
could be tamed by the rule of law
is as realistic as thinking
a lion can be trained to be vegan
And though we continued twisting into
that thread strands of current models
of socio-economic organization
in particular capitalism and socialism
big data and AI
The Communist Hypothesis
and the Enlightenment’s faith
in its overcoming its own
fateful dialectic Hillman’s words
free of the snarl
of our disagreement
need here be repeated
So many aspects of life
depend on fossil fuels
except for music
and love and education
and happiness. These things
we must focus on.
NoPoMo 2018 (4): something cheeky
Filed under: poems | Tags: March End Prill, National Poetry Month, poetry
Comments (1) 
she was coming for supper
he sliced two fresh avocado
egg yolk lemon wedge squeeze dribble
& dill then olive oil drizzled in & whisked
sauced over slices fanned out
over one side of the plate the other
halved boiled little new pink potatoes
tossed in chopped purple onion
grape seed oil red wine vinegar
& a tsp Dijon
the main dish cubed pears
eggplant Szechwan marinated firm tofu
chopped celery & ground ginger
sautéed in olive oil with a drop of sesame
dripped in for a hint of the Orient
a big bottle of Uncle Ben’s
Sweet Soy Sauce dumped on
all served on Shanghai noodles
he wore his nicest apron
but no pants having plucked
each fine wiry glossy black hair
from around his anus washed
oiled & perfumed so its folds
and puckers glistened in the candlelight
From March End Prill (Book*hug, 2011)
NoPoMo 2018 (3): A Post-secular poem avant le lettre
Filed under: poems | Tags: March End Prill, National Poetry Month, poetry, post secular
Leave a comment Lift the flame
Luciferous hissing
blue out the lighter
Light the incens
uous resins
crackle in the bowl
Father
Son &
Holy Ghost
Each cardinal direction
dawn morning sun
in branches
orientation
sinister
Southern Cross
Antepod
Abendland
Ol’ Rope-a
accidental occident
all that’s left’s
True North
“I believe”
Lichen yellows
Shady bark
From (Book*hug, 2011)
NaPoMo 2018 (2)
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: Matthew J Trafford, National Poetry Month, poetry
Comments (1) A poem from Ladonian Magnitudes, one of the favourites of its most inspired reviewer, 
Matthew J. Trafford.
I HATE POETRY
I hate poetry readings polite in bookstores or schools or café bar open mics
every year’s unreadable thousands of slim volumes of verse inane formulaic inoffensive backcover blurbs filed filling booksupermarket-bookshelf ghettoes
poetry journals quarterlies annuals reviews anthologies handymuseums artcrypts a magazine (sb. 5. b.) should be a magazine (sb. Mil.)
I hate Spoken Word Slam poetry uniform monotonous Pop music spectacle theatrics
old faux Boho poetry yeasty anecdotes Al Purdy dumping a mug of beer on Margaret Atwood’s head for being too academic
antiAcademic Poetry poet poetry professors
L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets sniggering at mainstream poets other L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets over their own writing “innovative” as Industry dumping a number of a local periodical with a bad review in San Francisco Bay
I hate Work Street Regional Peoples New Formalist National Minority poetry
I hate creative writing program workshop voice polish
poetry in complete correctly grammatical punctuated sentences
lines and stanzas typographically regular miming lyric epic voice strophes
poetry preciously le mot juste metaphoric gridding universals of human experience
personae all the poet’s voice nothing anybody’d think or say
Hear a live performance: from States of the Arts Conference, Saarbrücken, Germany, 23 October 2008.
NaPoMo 2018
Filed under: poems, The Brouillon | Tags: haiku, National Poetry Month, Nustrat Fateh Ali Khan, poetry, rumi, Rupi Kaur
Leave a comment 
Poeta Doctus 