Well, I enjoyed that reading, thanks Barry. And I am a cautious Merwin fan -
when I say 'cautious' I mean I am not swept away by everything he writes,
but when he speaks to me, it really resonates. The first one to do that was,
yes, The Drunk in the Furnace - what a good poem.
I was in a professor's uni study yesterday and noted the range of Merwin
books on his shelf. I said, quizzically, 'Oh, y're a Merwin fan?' and he
replied, 'I used to buy every word he wrote, but I haven't read anything by
him for years.' Maybe this is the price of being so prolific.
Andrew
On 21 April 2011 23:42, Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Though I've learned to expect little of interest to me emanating from the
> taste range of the poet laureates who pass thru the Library of Congress, I
> have to admit I was pleased and surprised by the selection of W.S. Merwin
> for the 2010-2011 season. When I was an undergraduate at Washington
> University in St. Louis, the English Department had a taste for poets
> published by Atheneum and I can remember writing an essay on Merwin's book
> THE DRUNK IN THE FURNACE for a faculty member who was also an Atheneum poet,
> Donald Finkel. Even when I was teaching at Philistine University, I treated
> the relationship between Merwin's prose poetry and his more
> conventional-looking poetry. I would still prefer reading a translation by
> W.S. Merwin over those by many other translators.
>
> Even if this is the only reading curated by W.S.M. during his term as PL
> which I'll attend, I've never had a chance to witness either poet live
> (except for the year Robert Bringhurst was--purely by accident--my next-door
> neighbor). I've prepared myself by sorting out the videos of Gander &
> Bringhurst on youtube and would like to single out one in particular which
> was conceptualized by Forest Gander (that is, he's credited with "poem,
> music, video"):
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAe726yL8K8
>
>
> "April 21 - Witter Bynner Fellowship Reading. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin has
> chosen two seasoned voices in poetry, Forrest Gander and Robert Bringhurst,
> to receive the 2011 Witter Bynner Fellowships, and will introduce the poets
> on April 21 at the Library of Congress. Gander and Bringhurst will read
> their poems at 6:45 p.m. in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James
> Madison Building. A book signing and reception will follow the event."
>
>
> Barry
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
'Mother Waits for Father Late' republished available at
http://www.picaropress.com/
http://www.qlrs.com/poem.asp?id=766
http://frankshome.org/AndrewBurke.html
|