Poasis

by Joris, Pierre

• ISBN13: 9780819564351
• ISBN10: 0819564354
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr

Summary

Pierre Joris's poems are characterized by an arresting mix of passion and intellect, by what Pound called "language charged with meaning." For Joris, a language is always a second language, and his poetry takes as its main concern the question of marginality and exile. He is unique in being an American poet comfortable in three languages, and his work is filled with a dynamic language play, cross-linguistic puns, and themes of speculation on language, translation, and nomadism. Poasis, Joris's first major publication in the United States, highlights his work since the mid-1980s.

Author Biography

Pierre Joris is the author of more than twenty books, most recently h.j.r. (1999) and Winnetou Old (1994), and has translated Paul Celan and Pablo Picasso, among others. With Jerome Rothenberg he co-edited Poems for the Millennium: The University of California Book of Modern & Postmodern Poetry (1995 volume 1, 1998 volume 2). He is Professor of English at SUNY-Albany.

Table of Contents

Canto Diurno #1	1	(34)
from Janus
Trust the Calendars	25	(2)
The Work of Al-Ishk	27	(4)
The day after	31	(3)
Winter, Late Afternoon	34	(8)
from The Irritation Ditch	42	(5)
Anton Webern's Birthday	47	(17)
from Turbulence
Critical Transformations	52	(2)
One Moment Earlier	54	(1)
Begin Here	55	(2)
The Cyclone Elsewhere Savages	57	(2)
The True Condition is Not	59	(1)
Where Wiener was at the Time . . .	60	(1)
The Bite of a Tame Sparrow	61	(1)
Access to Weather (Take One)	62	(1)
Stochastic Form of a Flame	63	(1)
The Voices Fade	64	(2)
Soft Word May Morning	66	(3)
Winnetou Old	69	(18)
A note on Winnetou Old	85	(2)
December Work	87	(8)
Lemur Mornings	95	(24)
Ruislip Visitation	119	(6)
Revving Charron's Outboard Engine	125	(3)
Goosefeet	128	(5)
Long After Dreaming of a Flounder	133	(2)
Is It Me Sleeping	135	(2)
My Mouth Knows a Language	137	(3)
The Emptiness of Too Much Fullness	140	(3)
for Nate Mackey	143	(1)
2 Poems for Pens	144	(1)
``The errancy of language . . .''	145	(1)
from h.j.r.	146
Ode or Nearly Here	146
Animals to the Point	153
In the Nomad House She was All	159
52°, back porch	160
from Notes Toward a Nomadic Community	164
To Keep the Pagan Pact	166
Writing/Reading #13	173
Aegean Shortwave	177
The Dream of the Desert in the Book	183
Getting There	186
h.j.r.	190
Love Song	194
Altars of Light	195
We Live In	197