IN TOWN TONIGHT withPIOTR SOMMER
14 November at 7.30pm
Piotr Sommer is a celebrated Polish poet. Bloodaxe has just published
his latest selected poems “Continued” of which Mark Ford writing the
Guardian says: “The late DJ Enright, one of Sommer's most effective
translators, described the general tenor of his work as "low-key and
terse. Irony there is, but it keeps its head down, while the
occasional uncertain joke raises an uncertain smile. Obliquity is the
rule." A good example of this obliquity is a short early piece
translated by Douglas Dunn and called "Domestic": "A woman drags
herself from bed. / You know I think I ought to make myself some
dinner. / But she doesn't have time / and dies between / two
gestures, her mother's / and her child's, never discovering / who, or
whose she was / more."
“Sommer, who was born in 1948, was one of the first Polish poets to
be influenced by American poets of the 50s and 60s, many of whom
(including Lowell, Berryman, Reznikoff and Ashbery) he has
translated. Undoubtedly the most significant of his translations,
however, was his selection of the work of Frank O'Hara, which
appeared in 1987 and sparked a mini poetic war between a group of
O'Hara-influenced poets known as "the Barbarians" and their
opponents, dubbed "the New Classicists", who wanted to defend the
traditional values of poetic form and historical gravitas from the
modern vices of pop culture.”
IN TOWN TONIGHT is an occasional series put on when we are lucky
enough to catch famous poets on their way through London. The title
comes from an old radio programme which used to begin “We stop the
mighty roar of London’s traffic to bring to you…” On this evening we
are delighted to welcome Piotr Sommer. We ask these poets to come to
our intimate venue when they would normally fill a big hall and read
to an audience often made up primarily of poets. Poets who have read
in this series include Galway Kinnell, William Meredith, Paul Muldoon
and Fanny Howe. The evenings have been magical partly because of the
conversation that develops between the audience and the poet. Don’t
miss this opportunity to hear a great poet.
Tickets £5/4
Box office 020 7420 9887 or email [log in to unmask]
The Poetry Café, 22 Betterton St., London WC2H 9BX
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