I've put up another translated poem at latitudes, a version of Montale's very famous "merriggiare pallido e assorto". I did it some time ago but now it has a better home.
Belatedly, wanting to acknowledge the passing of Jackson Mac Low last week. There's an obituary at The New York Times and here's more info on Mac Low .
The poem below is from his series of Light Poems.
1ST LIGHT POEM: FOR IRIS -- 10 JUNE 1962
The light of a student-lamp
sapphire light
shimmer
the light of a smoking-lamp
Light from the Magellanic Clouds
the light of a Nernst lamp
the light of a naphtha-lamp
light from meteorites
Evanescent light
ether
the light of an electric lamp
extra light
Citrine light
kineographic light
the light of a Kitson lamp
kindly light
Ice light
irradiation
ignition
altar light
The light of a spotlight
a sunbeam
sunrise
solar light
Mustard-oil light
I’m in the process of editing something so all these strange questions come for me. I have no answers. Well, not exactly. And not while I’m in the midst of this process. What might a book be saying or declaring? Is what it’s not saying as important? But how can we know what it’s not saying? Does a book actually say anything? Didn’t someone write? Well, did they? OK, does even the writer know what they re saying? Could you write a book about what the book isn’t about? What are the words not saying? Is it the words, each of them, or the phrases, or the sentences or lines? Who is or isn’t in the poem? Who is knocking on the door to come into the poem? (Oh, so, here’s a metaphor!) Who doesn’t give a shit? Are these simply random, stumbling questions? Are any questions random? Is it a return of the repressed? What are the book’s gestures? ‘Wo es war, soll ich werden’, anyone? Is the book a symptom of something? So, the book
Some hot discussion on the 'new lyric' in Australian poetry over at Pam Brown 's new place for talkin' about poetry. Questions Pam put up for discussion: How much does the concept of the new Aussie lyric have to do with formalism? How different is this new Aussie lyric from the earlier notion of lyric as an instrument of personal expression? Is the new Aussie lyric consciously engaged in thought and its processes in language? Is this re-emergence of the lyrical a trend against/an escape from recent movements and influences in poetry? Could the new lyrical engage with notions of authenticity (originality/faking), appropriation (copying) involving the persona of the poet? Someone added an extra question backchannel which Pam placed upfront: "I wondered if an extra question could be added (which you imply up front), about the gendering of this new eruption." and Pam proposed a further question in the comments: "I wonder why there is never any wit, anything f
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