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Monday, May 11th, 2020
So the ten books that first occur to me as "books that have profoundly influenced my worldview" (whatever those words mean) are, and I posted them in the order that they occurred to me yesterday and today:
- Snow (Orhan Pamuk, Turkey 2002)
- Bicameral Mind (Jaynes, US 1976)
- INFINITE JEST (dfw, US 1996)
- El arte de la resurrección (Hernán Rivera Letelier, Chile 2010)
- Bleak House (Dickens, UK 1853)
- The Autograph Man (Smith, UK 2002)
- Manituana (Wu Ming, Italy 2007)
- Debt (Graeber, US 2011)
- Regeneration Through Violence (Slotkin, US 1973)
- The Unknown University (Bolaño, Chile 2011)
(9 should probably have an asterisk by it, I don't think I ever actually read the whole book.)
I'm happy with this list. I would recommend any of these books highly, were a friend to come to me looking for reading material. Maybe 9. should trade places with #11, "Blindness" by Saramago. I have blogged many of these reads, not all.
posted afternoon of May 11th, 2020: Respond
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Thursday, February 19th, 2015
One nice side benefit of the class I took last spring at la Universidad Desconocida was the chance to meet classmate Isabel Zapata. Today her "Canción de Cuna para Sonámbulos" is online at Limulus along with my translation. Check it out! A beautiful poem.
posted evening of February 19th, 2015: Respond
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Saturday, October 18th, 2014
In one of his classes, Amalfitano said: the birth of modern Latin American poetry is marked by two poems. The first is "The Soliloquy of the Individual," by Nicanor Parra, published in Poemas y antipoemas, Editorial Nascimento, Chile, 1954. The second is "Trip to New York," by Ernesto Cardenal, published in a Mexico City magazine in the mid-'70s (1974, I think, but don't quote me on that), which I have in Ernesto Cardenal's Antología, Editorial Laia, Barcelona, 1978. Of course, Cardenal had already written "Zero Hour," "Psalms," "Homage to the American Indians," and "Coplas on the Death of Merton," but it's "Trip to New York" that to me marks the turning point, the definitive fork in the road. "Trip" and "Soliloquy" are the two faces of modern poetry, the devil and the angel, respectively (and let us not forget the curious fact -- though it may be much more than that -- that in "Trip" Ernesto Cardenal mentions Nicanor Parra). This is perhaps the most lucid and terrible moment, after which the sky grows dark and the storm is unleashed.Those who disagree can sit here and wait for Don Horacio Tregua, those who agree can follow me.
--Roberto Bolaño, Woes of the True Policeman
So then, here they are: - Parra, Soliloquio del individuo, translated by Ferlinghetti as "Soliloquy of the Individual" -- here is a recording of Ginsberg reading the translation, though annoyingly cut off before the end. Here is a recording of Parra reading.
- Cardenal, Trip to New York. (Annoying -- this is a Google Books preview and only the first page is available; I haven't been able to find a link to the original text.) (Or possibly there are more than one poem of that title by Cardenal -- I just found a link to the first page of a poem called Viaje a Nueva York which begins differently than that one.) (Update -- we'll know soon enough, I just bought the 78 Laia AntologÃa via AbeBooks...)
posted morning of October 18th, 2014: Respond
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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014
 A couple of things have been happening lately in the world of "poetry by J. Osner"... The chapbook of the Universidad Desconocida workshop was presented at the kickoff event for the workshop's second year. It features three of my poems and lots of beautiful writing from other students -- and I've just finished a translation of Isabel Zapata's "Sleepwalker's Lullaby" from the chapbook. ...Two of my poems (both from Analogies for Time) were published in Issue 5 of Street Voice (I think it is the first time I have ever appeared in a poetry journal), and I'm in touch with the editor about submitting some more work.
posted morning of September 23rd, 2014: Respond
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Friday, May 16th, 2014
El poemario es cosa fÃsica!
posted afternoon of May 16th, 2014: 2 responses
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Saturday, May third, 2014
I presented my chapbook of biblical verse, and got good notes. Primarily -- I should keep my poems short and intense, and resonant; anchor the ideas in imagery; and surprise the reader. The favorite was "Esquéleto":
Esquéleto
Esto son mis huesos
desnudos; vestilos
en carne, inspirámelo
el Espíritu a mí.
Planteá Vos la sembra espiritual
que crezca y florezca profecía
derramámelo
fornicámelo
que sueñe yo los sueños
de iluminación
Readings for next week are Latin American vanguard poems, a beautiful selection (which somehow manages to omit Pasos and Cuadras).
posted morning of May third, 2014: 1 response
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Saturday, April 26th, 2014
I'm finding this week's readings for the Universidad Desconocida much more engaging than last week's. Check it out:
- Fernando Pessoa, "Poema de canción sobre la esperanza"
- T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"
- Anna Akhmatova, "Réquiem"
- Eugenio Montale, "Sestear palido y absorto"
- Federico GarcÃa Lorca, "Romance de la luna"
- Jacques Prévert, "Para hacer el retrato de un pájaro"
- Robert Desnos, "Tanto soñé contigo"
- Luis Cernuda, "Si el hombre pudiera decir lo que ama"
- W.H. Auden, "Musée des beaux artes" (in a beatiful translation by José Emilio Pacheco)
- Miguel Hernández, "El niño yuntero"
- Dylan Thomas, "And Death Shall Have No Dominion"
- Paul Celan, "Todesfugue"
- Philip Larkin, "This Be the Verse" (another quite excellent translation, by Enrique Winter)
- Wislawa Szymborska, "Lectura"
posted afternoon of April 26th, 2014: Respond
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Thursday, April 24th, 2014
Had a little trouble following the discussion of the readings in more than fragments. Read a classmate's beautiful poem "Lullaby for insomniacs," remembering and mourning for her mother. I presented my poem "un ejercicia en la forma pronominal" and got some really valuable notes. The title is not really a title to speak of and the quote from Leiris needs to go -- Enrique Winter recommended I cut a few lines at the end. But people really seemed to appreciate the poem and find it amusing. Ran out of time before we could read another classmate's poem, I'm going to read that now.
posted evening of April 24th, 2014: Respond
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Monday, February third, 2014
 Very exciting: a school of Spanish-language writing and literature is being launched in Brooklyn under the compelling name of Bolaño's book of poetry. Go to their launch party on Saturday! (I can't make it because I'm going to a poetry workshop at Medicine Show Theater, about which more anon.) I am planning to enroll in the poetry workshop led by Isabel Cadenas Cañon, and maybe also the writing workshop led by Lina Meruane. Can't wait!
posted evening of February third, 2014: Respond
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Saturday, December 14th, 2013
I was briefly in touch with Roberto Bolaño's literary agent over the idea of my publishing Teach me to dance... The answer as it turns out is unsurprisingly "No, the estate has other plans for his early poetry" -- oh well, it was fun anyway to have that contact.
posted morning of December 14th, 2013: 1 response
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