Readings in Contemporary Poetry
Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop
Tuesday, May 10, 2016, 6:30 pm, Dia Chelsea
Tuesday, May 10, 2016, 6:30 pm
Dia:Chelsea
535 West 22nd Street, 5th Floor
New York City
Introduction by Vincent Katz
Keith Waldrop
’s Selected Poems is forthcoming from Omnidawn in spring 2016. His recent books includeTranscendental Studies: A Trilogy (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2009), which received a National Book Award, The Real Subject (Richmond, Calif.: Omnidawn, 2004), and a trilogy: Semiramis If I Remember(Penngrove, Calif.: Avec Books, 2001); The Silhouette of the Bridge (Penngrove, Calif.: Avec Books, 1997); and The Locality Principle (Penngrove, Calif.: Avec Books, 1995). Siglio published a book of his collages, titled Several Gravities, in 2009.He has translated Charles Baudelaire’s Paris Spleen (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2009) andFlowers of Evil (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 2006) as well as books by contemporary French poets Anne-Marie Albiach, Claude Royet-Journoud, Paol Keineg, Dominique Fourcade, Pascal Quignard, and Jean Grosjean.
He was born in Emporia, Kansas, in 1932 and lives in Providence.
71 Elmgrove Avenue
Here, and in St. Petersburg, one
dreams of being run over by
horses in the street. St.
Petersburg, Russia, that is, at the
turn of the century. Since the Revolution,
they are more and more (horses, I
mean) a thing of the past — or of
westerns. Which brings me
to Italy, where a torrent of traffic
rushes, honking, over
the Roman Empire. But here,
and through a desert, anytime, the Nile
flows like a dream
dreams of being run over by
horses in the street. St.
Petersburg, Russia, that is, at the
turn of the century. Since the Revolution,
they are more and more (horses, I
mean) a thing of the past — or of
westerns. Which brings me
to Italy, where a torrent of traffic
rushes, honking, over
the Roman Empire. But here,
and through a desert, anytime, the Nile
flows like a dream
Rosmarie Waldrop
Rosmarie Waldrop’s Gap Gardening: Selected Poems is forthcoming from New Directions in spring 2016. Her recent books include Driven to Abstraction (New York: New Directions, 2010), Curves to the Apple (New York: New Directions, 2007), Blindsight (New York: New Directions, 2003), and Love, Like Pronouns (Richmond, Calif.: Omnidawn, 2003). Her collection of essays, titled Dissonance (if you are interested), was published by University of Alabama Press in 2005.
She has translated fourteen volumes of Edmond Jabès’s work (her memoir, Lavish Absence: Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès, was published by Wesleyan University Press in 2002) as well as volumes by Elke Erb, Emmanuel Hocquard, Friederike Mayröcker, Oskar Pastior, Jacques Roubaud, Gerhard Rühm, and Ulf Stolterfoht. She is the recipient of Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award (1999–01).
She was born in Kitzingen, Germany, in 1935 and lives in Providence.
She has translated fourteen volumes of Edmond Jabès’s work (her memoir, Lavish Absence: Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès, was published by Wesleyan University Press in 2002) as well as volumes by Elke Erb, Emmanuel Hocquard, Friederike Mayröcker, Oskar Pastior, Jacques Roubaud, Gerhard Rühm, and Ulf Stolterfoht. She is the recipient of Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award (1999–01).
She was born in Kitzingen, Germany, in 1935 and lives in Providence.
Lawn of Excluded Middle
I worried about the gap between expression and intent, afraid the world might see a fluorescent advertisement where I meant to show a face. Sincerity is no help once we admit to the lies we tell on nocturnal occasions, even in the solitude of our own heart, wishcraft slanting the naked figure from need to seduce to fear of possession. Far better to cultivate the gap itself with its high grass for privacy and reference gone astray. Never mind that it is not philosophy, but raw electrons jumping from orbit to orbit to ready the pit for the orchestra, scrap meanings amplifying the succession of green perspectives, moist features, spasms on the lips.
Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop
Together, Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop have published a collection of collaborative writings, titled Well Well Reality(Sausalito, Calif.: Post-Apollo Press, 1998), their autobiographies, titled Ceci n’est pas Keith Ceci n’est pas Rosmarie (Providence: Burning Deck, 2002), and a translation of Roubaud’s poems about the streets of Paris, titledThe Form of a City Changes Faster, Alas, Than the Human Heart (Victoria, Tex.: Dalkey Archive Press, 2006). The Waldrops founded Burning Deck in 1961.
Books
Readings in Contemporary Poetry: An Anthology