The Holy Forest

by Blaser, Robin

• ISBN13: 9780520245938
• ISBN10: 0520245938
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-01-08
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Robin Blaser, one of the key North American poets of the postwar period, emerged from the "Berkeley Renaissance" of the 1940s and 1950s as a central figure in that burgeoning literary scene.The Holy Forest,now spanning five decades, is Blaser's highly acclaimed lifelong serial poem. This long-awaited revised and expanded edition includes numerous published volumes of verse, the ongoing "Image-Nation" and "Truth Is Laughter" series, and new work from 1994 to 2004. Blaser's passion for world making draws inspiration from the major poets and philosophers of our time--from friends and peers such as Robert Duncan, Jack Spicer, Charles Olson, Charles Bernstein, and Steve McCaffery to virtual companions in thought such as Hannah Arendt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, among others. This comprehensive compilation of Blaser's prophetic meditations on the histories, theories, emotions, experiments, and countermemories of the late twentieth century will stand as the definitive collection of his unique and luminous poetic oeuvre.

Author Biography

Robin Blaser is Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xvii
Robert Creeley
A Note on the Text	xxiii
Author's Note	xxv
The Boston Poems (1956 -- 1959)	3	(26)
Two Astronomers with Notebooks	5	(2)
War for Those Who Are Not Soldiers	7	(2)
And when I pay death's duty	9	(1)
A 4 Part Geometry Lesson	10	(2)
Poem (``O dark heaven . . .'')*	12	(1)
Herons	13	(1)
For years I've heard	14	(1)
Poem by the Charles River	15	(1)
Letters to Freud	16	(3)
The Hunger of Sound	19	(7)
Quitting a Job*	26	(3)
Cups 1 -- 12 (1959--1960)	29	(18)
The Park (1960)	47	(10)
The Faerie Queene (1961)	57	(8)
An Appearance	59	(1)
Metamorphoses	60	(1)
So	61	(1)
From a Fortune-Cooky	62	(1)
The Sphinx	63	(1)
For Gustave Moreau	64	(1)
The Moth Poem (1962--1964)	65	(22)
A Literalist	67	(1)
The Literalist	68	(1)
Between	69	(1)
The Borrower	70	(1)
Awake	71	(1)
Supper Guest	72	(1)
The Medium	73	(1)
O-friend	74	(2)
Invisible Pencil	76	(1)
Atlantis (``draws back . . .'')	77	(1)
Atlantis (``the light of it . . .'')	78	(1)
My Dear---	79	(1)
Paradise Quotations	80	(2)
it it it it	82	(1)
Salut	83	(2)
C	85	(1)
The Translator: A Tale	86	(1)
Image-Nations 1--4 (1962--1964)	87	(8)
Image-Nation 1 (the fold	89	(1)
Image-Nation 2 (roaming	90	(1)
Image-Nation 3 (substance	91	(1)
Image-Nation 4 (old gold	92	(3)
Les Chimeres (1963--1964)	95	(14)
The Shadow	97	(1)
Myrtho	98	(1)
Horus	99	(1)
Anteros	100	(1)
Delfica	101	(1)
Artemis	102	(1)
Christ among the Olives	103	(5)
Golden Poem	108	(1)
Charms (1964--1968)	109	(30)
Psyche	111	(2)
Translation	113	(1)
Winter Words	114	(1)
The Stories	115	(1)
In a Dark	116	(1)
The Prints	117	(1)
Love	118	(1)
The Private I	119	(1)
Song	120	(1)
1st Tale: Over	121	(1)
2nd Tale: Return	122	(2)
At Last	124	(1)
Aphrodite of the Leaves	125	(1)
The City	126	(1)
Sophia Nichols	127	(2)
A Gift	129	(1)
Bottom's Dream	130	(1)
The Finder	131	(2)
Out of the Window	133	(1)
Merlin	134	(1)
The Cry of Merlin	135	(2)
envoi	137	(2)
Great Companion: Pindar (1971)	139	(8)
Image-Nations 5--14 and Uncollected Poems (1965--1974)	147	(42)
Image-Nation 5 (erasure	149	(7)
Image-Nation 6 (epithalamium	156	(1)
a good return*	157	(2)
Image-Nation 7 (l'air	159	(5)
Image-Nation 8 (morphe	164	(2)
Enfant Terrible.*	166	(1)
Image-Nation 9 (half and half	167	(3)
Image-Nation 10 (marriage clothes	170	(7)
Image-Nation 11 (the poesis	177	(2)
Image-Nation 12 (Actus	179	(4)
Image-Nation 13 (the telephone	183	(2)
Image-Nation 14 (the face	185	(2)
Origin*	187	(2)
Streams I (1974--1976)	189	(12)
Luck Unluck One Luck	191	(2)
Sky-stone	193	(2)
Suddenly	195	(1)
Gathering	196	(1)
The Skill*	197	(2)
Harp Trees	199	(1)
Tumble-Weed	200	(1)
Syntax (1979--1981)	201	(42)
Preface	203	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 1	204	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 2	205	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 3	206	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 4	207	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 5	208	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 6	209	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 7	210	(1)
Dreams, January 1981	211	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 8	211	(1)
Tombstone	212	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 9	212	(1)
Image-Nation 15 (the lacquer house	213	(2)
Image-Nation 16 (anaclitic variations	215	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 10	216	(1)
alerte d'or	217	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 11	217	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 12	218	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 13	218	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 14	219	(1)
A Ceremony	219	(1)
Dreams, April 1981	220	(2)
Diary, April 11, 1981	222	(2)
The Truth Is Laughter 15	224	(1)
Occasional Thought	224	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 16	224	(1)
Image-Nation 17 (opercula	225	(2)
graffito	227	(1)
The Mystic East	228	(2)
lake of souls (reading notes	230	(9)
Departure (envoi-commiato	239	(1)
further	240	(1)
Some Voices in Syntax	241	(2)
Pell Mell (1981--1988)	243	(90)
Waiting for Hours	245	(1)
Skylight	246	(1)
Cold Morning Quotations	247	(2)
Image-Nation 18 (an apple	249	(3)
6 November '82---Dream of a poem . . .	252	(1)
Fousang	253	(4)
Mooning	257	(2)
The Iceberg	259	(1)
Sock-hop	260	(2)
Useful Triads	262	(2)
a cet ultime instant . . .	264	(2)
The Pause	266	(2)
Moments	268	(1)
Story	268	(1)
`the universe is part of ourselves'	269	(1)
Romance	270	(1)
No-name	271	(1)
The Soul	272	(1)
Desire	273	(1)
Anecdote	274	(2)
The Ruler	276	(2)
Skylights Smoking a Ramses Cigarette	278	(2)
Advice: find someplace where	280	(1)
To whom it may concern:	281	(1)
Hi!	282	(2)
First Love	284	(1)
Home for Boys and Girls	285	(1)
belief	286	(1)
My Window	287	(1)
`the sounding air'	288	(1)
Image-Nation 19 (the wand	289	(4)
The Art of Combinations	293	(1)
Ah	293	(1)
honestas	294	(1)
Epitaphics	295	(1)
Image-Nation 20 (the Eve	296	(1)
Silver-winged red devil, a toy from Mexico	297	(2)
Image-Nation 21 (territory	299	(1)
Dream (``I went madly to sleep'')	300	(1)
Pain-fountain	301	(1)
Dream (``'standing everest,''')	302	(1)
Utopia	303	(2)
`It springs on you'	305	(2)
The Truth Is Laughter 17	307	(1)
O.	307	(2)
Halloween	309	(1)
Giant	310	(1)
poetry is ordinary busyness	311	(1)
There-abouts	312	(1)
`O on the left'---Posse	312	(1)
Carmelo Point, 13 June 1984	313	(1)
For Barry Clinton, d. 17 June 1984, of aids	314	(1)
pin-wheel---shimmering wind pale	315	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 18	315	(1)
Pretty Please	316	(1)
And Tereus	316	(1)
Praise to Them	317	(1)
O fragmented ago---	317	(1)
I would be there	318	(1)
I thought when I dreamed	319	(1)
writing table	319	(1)
dancing with radios	320	(3)
hard, gemlike flame	323	(1)
conversation	323	(1)
heavy reading	324	(1)
hymns and fragments	325	(1)
stop	326	(1)
`Mr. Dandelion'	327	(1)
sapphire-blue moon, once	328	(1)
untranslatable reason	329	(1)
demi-tasse (an elegy	330	(2)
Continuing	332	(1)
Great Companion: Robert Duncan (1988)	333	(8)
Streams II (1986--1991)	341	(26)
Image-Nation 22 (in memoriam	343	(4)
As If By Chance	347	(3)
going, going*	350	(1)
Interlunar Thoughts	350	(1)
Image-Nation 23 (imago-mundi	351	(3)
`home, home on the range'	354	(1)
the skin moves over the muscles*	354	(1)
Giving the Glitter to / Some Body Else	355	(2)
Of the Land of Culture	357	(2)
a bird in the house	359	(1)
Who's There?	360	(1)
rose	361	(2)
Bits of a Book	363	(4)
Exody (1990--1993)	367	(30)
Muses, Dionysus, Eros	369	(1)
Even on Sunday	370	(5)
tip-toeing through the stink weed,*	375	(1)
in the tree tops	376	(1)
Image-Nation 24 ('oh, pshaw,'	377	(12)
Mappa Mundi	389	(3)
Image-Nation 25 (Exody	392	(5)
Notes (1994--2000)*	397	(38)
Robin Blaser: Curriculum Vitae	399	(8)
Shipped Shape	407	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 19	407	(1)
of is the word love without the initial consonant	408	(1)
at this point in time	409	(1)
one word of wisdom	410	(1)
well, I was walking up	411	(1)
that cat	412	(1)
my novel	412	(1)
Bits of a Book 2	413	(1)
merci buckets---	414	(1)
The Flame	415	(2)
Ode for Museums, All of Them!	417	(2)
A Story after Blake	419	(2)
pentimento 1	421	(1)
a fountain at the kitchen door	422	(1)
forest 1	423	(1)
Liveforever	424	(1)
In Remembrance of Matthew Shepard	425	(1)
vocabulary 1	426	(1)
the bottom line	427	(2)
nomad	429	(1)
pentimento 2	430	(2)
Image-Nation 26 (being-thus	432	(3)
Great Companion: Dante Alighiere (1997)*	435	(24)
Wanders (2001--2002)*	459	(28)
The Truth Is Laughter 20	461	(1)
The Truth Is Laughter 21	461	(1)
Oh!	462	(1)
Glass Road	462	(1)
Well, my dears, I knew there were shadows	463	(1)
hail yah	463	(1)
`who, who, who, who'	464	(1)
half-you flown on a carpet	464	(1)
`there, there, there'	464	(1)
Among universals	465	(1)
Petty, vulgar, provincial	465	(1)
Good morning	466	(1)
So	467	(1)
There's a wonder afoot	467	(1)
`like money in the gutter,' David said	468	(1)
did you ever see an angel	468	(1)
forgot, oubli	469	(1)
oubli, forgot	470	(1)
when Nietzsche said	470	(1)
a true story of	471	(1)
there were two accent	472	(1)
the clock is back	473	(1)
on page 61	473	(1)
`I have lost track of the world,' Mahler said	474	(1)
so eerie: 'must get rid of Halloween---	474	(1)
To: Colorado / Montana	475	(1)
imagine a map	476	(1)
I return to my meditations---explications---experiences	476	(1)
who's goose	477	(1)
everyday, the carpenter	477	(1)
Fingerspitzengefuhl	478	(1)
Ruck and rot pucker in political thought	478	(1)
woke this morning	479	(1)
will be	479	(1)
what did I forget	480	(1)
a dream that repeated during the night---each	480	(1)
`oh,' I said to myself	481	(1)
the Bible is as historical	481	(1)
if you look at a table of minerals	482	(1)
the first imagination of god	482	(1)
well, this old crow is making	483	(1)
I've caught the unease	483	(1)
what i-densities	484	(1)
dear dusty moth	485	(1)
Robert Duncan said, `Don't tell	485	(1)
Ethel Merman	486	(1)
So (2003)*	487	(8)
Charles Watts	489	(1)
just out the door	490	(1)
begin the beguine	491	(1)
there	492	(1)
woke this morning	492	(1)
a song	493	(2)
Oh! (2004)*	495	(12)
I don't remember this:	497	(1)
only the shadow knows	498	(1)
comfortably	499	(1)
simplified mind	500	(1)
sea and sky	501	(1)
no body	501	(1)
whose salted heart	502	(1)
what would you do	503	(1)
`Have you got a toybox?'	504	(1)
divination by pebbles	505	(1)
language is love	506	(1)
Afterword	507	(4)
Charles Bernstein
Index of Titles and First Lines	511