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A GRADUAL TWILIGHT: AN APPRECIATION OF JOHN HAINES. Steven B. Rogers. CavanKerry Press Ltd. Poetry. Criticism. Memoir. A
GRADUAL TWILIGHT is a
wonderful book of reflections retracing the life of poet-naturalist John Haines.
Tightly edited by Rogers, Gradual sews together contributions by Wendell Berry,
Raymond Carver, Tess Gallagher, Donald Hall, and William Carlos Williams to
bring this oft forgotten writer back into our midst. Haines was a mystic figure
-- a man of beauty and nature, an anthropologist of the natural mind-- whose
breadth of knowledge conjures thoughts of Jeffers and Gary Snyder. A man of
beauty and deep thought. Gradual reconnects us with his vision.
Purchase directly from Small Press Distribution.
SHORT TAKES: COPPER CANYON PRESS
Copper Canyon Press is on par with City Lights in San Francisco -- a small
press dedicated to publishing the most interesting and innovative poetry now
being written. Accordingly, Copper Canyon circulates the kind of titles that the
Electric Review hopes to bring its readers’ attention to. Aside from the
Collected Poems of Kenneth Rexroth (one of the best books of poetry to appear in
the last several years and reviewed here last month), Copper Canyon has many
other fine selections on its shelves. These include:
CA DAO VIET NAM. Translated by John Balaban. Copper Canyon Press. This is a
wonderful little book of Vietnamese folk poems (or “ca dao” -- literally
meaning: “short lyrics passed down by word of mouth and sung without any
instrumental accompaniment”).
At the end of the war, Balaban returned to Viet Nam and traveled along the
villages and rivers there. In his journeys he was exposed to various folk poems
-- their sterling simplicity ringing through the outskirts of the mind these
true bells of wisdom:
“DIFFICULT LOVE”
The French boats run in the new canal.
If you love me, don’t hesitate now.
If you love me, don’t question my faith.
The wild goose flies high, difficult to shoot.
The fish in Quynh Pond, hard to catch.
The poems collected in this slim volume are impressive for their clarity of
consciousness and for their striking imagery. Like Gary Snyder’s best poetic
interpretations of Asia and its literature, Ca Dao sets out to drink up the seas
that separate the continents, drinking the blood of the mind and creating a
timeless music. Ca Dao: Words into perfect bells of silence. Innocence overtaken
by splendor and peace. Ca Dao -- these poems mark centuries in their infancy.
Ca-Dao: the deep wounds of wisdom consume us until this dirty human flesh has
been reduced to the perfection of the evening mist:
“HUSBAND AND WIFE”
The oriole eats yellow berries.
A fighting fish knows its bowl.
Husband and wife know each other’s smell.
COOL, CALM AND COLLECTED (Poems 1960-2000). Carolyn Kizer. Copper Canyon
Press. Cool is comprised of 4 full decades of Kizer’s best verse. A rich and
thorough retrospective of the Pulitzer Prize winner’s work, the poems gathered
here teem with spiritual awareness - timeless with universality, each line
sticks to the tongue like sheets of wet rice paper:
“Dateline Saigon: Marines wait in the rain
For the Buddhists to rise.
It’s monsoon time: Marines in the water’s rush
Turn their carbines upside down
To keep the barrels dry.”
(FROM THE FIRST OF JUNE AGAIN)
Purchase from amazon.com or go to go to:
www.coppercanyonpress.org
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