My motives are not entirely literary
I told myself I would not go back to Auvillar (Deep France). I’ ve been four times, taught three workshops, why be greedy ? Each time is enriched by the great company of o ther poets, old and young....
View ArticleWhen to let a book go
I’ve been crazy proofreading the new manuscript, translations of surrealist poet Benjamin Péret. The translations themselves are very goo d, they’re poems, yes, if I do say so. My God, they should be....
View ArticleOnline? Expect to be read
A young friend of mine who works for a hip magazine in a super-hip city recently Tweeted a negative reference to her workplace. A few hours later, her boss called her in to the office, and told her she...
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Healing Chant in the Face of the Nuclear
photo by curryosity on Flickr That was my arrogant title for a poem I wrote a few years ago when I was living in Auvillar, France, a few miles from a nuclear plant. Though the French seem at home with...
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Summer of Love Poems
Auvillar. Photo by Jean-jacques QUEYRIE via flickr Just back from leading the poetry workshop in Auvillar, France (“O Taste and See”) sponsored by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and it was...
View ArticlePoetry can be a bad influence (ask Paolo and Francesca)
When When the low heavy sky hangs down like a cover, you’re in Auvillar Without your spouse. Dante’s on his way. Ladies of a certain age compete for the clothes line. Show off gleaming copper...
View ArticleThe Limits of Silence
As a lyric poet, I think a lot about the limits of silence. And I try to keep a sense of humor about the problem of those who are stingy with speech. This is a pantoum I wrote a couple summers ago in...
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He chooses the funeral over the poetry reading
Benjamin Peret Tomorrow’s the book launch for my new book of translations, “The Big Game” (Le grand jeu), by the surrealist Benjamin Péret. It’s the first time this volume will appear in its entirety...
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