The Sumac Reader

by Bednarik, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9780870134623
• ISBN10: 0870134620
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-02-01
• Publisher: Michigan State Univ Pr

Summary

Sumacwas a Michigan-based literary journal founded in 1968 by poets Dan Gerber and Jim Harrison; novelist Thomas McGuane joined the editorial staff in 1969 as the fiction editor. When the inaugural issue appeared, more than 250 American literary magazines were listed in The Directory of Magazines and Small Presses; within three years, Sumacrose to the first tier of these publications and was nationally recognized for its eclecticism and editorial quality. The Library Journalcalled it "one of the best little magazines now being published." Remaining true to Sumac'senergetic catholicity, The Sumac Readeris an anthology that contains poetry, experimental fiction, and works in translation that originally appeared in the magazine. Contributors include four Pulitzer Prize-winning poets - Galway Kinnell, Charles Simic, Louis Simpson, and Gary Snyder - along with Paul Blackburn, Hayden Carruth, Richard Hugo, Denise Levertov, Ezra Pound, Adrienne Rich, and Diane Wakoski. There are early poems by Charles Simic, James Tate, and Michael Waters, as well as a complete section from Galaway Kinnell's classic, The Book of Nightmares. Fiction is represented in Sumacby a first-published Jim Heynen story "Coyote" and early prose by William Kittredge. Translations from Chinese, French, Spanish, and Russian bring to American readers the work of masters such as Tu Fu, Lorca, and Li Po. A variety of poetic forms are represented, including ghazals, narratives, suites, found poems, and the freest of free verse.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
How to Psalmodise	p. 1
Second Avenue Winter	p. 2
The Wedding	p. 3
Ax	p. 4
Coyote	p. 5
Origins Own You	p. 15
"Hannibal over the mountains..."	p. 16
The Busride	p. 17
Re-Acquaintance	p. 18
The Ravine	p. 19
Notes for Canto CXI	p. 20
Notes for a Later Canto	p. 22
Li Po	p. 23
The Chuck Berry Triptych	p. 24
Poems of Separation: I. Wei City Song	p. 35
Poems of Separation: II. Seeing Off at Bramble Gate	p. 36
Poems of Separation: III. Bitter Parting	p. 37
A Year's Changes	p. 38
from The Blue Ghazals: 9/21/68	p. 44
from The Blue Ghazals: 9/23/68:i	p. 45
White and the River	p. 46
The North	p. 54
White Weekend	p. 55
Bridge Over the Pecos	p. 56
The New Mexican	p. 57
Year's End (1968)	p. 58
Signs at Ft. Polk, La	p. 61
The Radio Says Something about Hog Cholera...	p. 62
"A crow ..."	p. 63
Dance of the Eagle	p. 64
The Dead Shall Be Raised Incorruptible	p. 66
Total Immersion in the Tank at Allapattah...	p. 72
Smokey the Bear Sutra	p. 74
Gazing at the Great Peak	p. 78
Moonlit Night	p. 79
Remembering My Brothers In a Moonlit Night	p. 80
Spring View	p. 81
Ballad of Army Carts	p. 82
A War Story	p. 84
Wait for Me	p. 96
Song	p. 97
Gravely	p. 98
She Dreams Herself Titanic	p. 99
Port Jefferson	p. 100
The Psyche of Riverside Drive	p. 101
Morning in Padova	p. 106
Paestum	p. 107
Fish Heads	p. 108
Uncle Harry: Lower Basin 1936	p. 109
Uncle Harry: Splitting Oak Before Pickerel Fishing...	p. 110
Autumn Sequence	p. 111
Poland/1931: "The Beards"	p. 114
Shaving with a Dull Razor	p. 116
Early	p. 117
Jim I	p. 118
The Album	p. 120
The Girl from Durango	p. 122
Noticed	p. 123
The Light	p. 124
"I Was Sitting"	p. 125
Burning a Replaced Farm Home	p. 126
The Boxer	p. 127
The Death of Bertrand Russell	p. 128
Deutschland	p. 130
Love Letter Postmarked Van Beethoven	p. 137
Film: Called 5 Blind Men	p. 141
Images of Spiritual Parenthood: Flight	p. 152
Images of Spiritual Parenthood: Owning it All	p. 153
Images of Spiritual Parenthood: The Night of June 17, 1966	p. 155
Images of Spiritual Parenthood: Broken Film	p. 158
"Dans la lumiere du plein jour ..."	p. 160
"In the full light of day ..."	p. 161
Mouettes	p. 162
Gulls	p. 163
The Kennebec's Song	p. 164
2 A.M.	p. 165
For the Others	p. 166
Three Poems for the Dakotas: Paul Fish Hawk	p. 169
Three Poems for the Dakotas: Matthew Yellow Earring	p. 170
Three Poems for the Dakotas: John Horse Legs	p. 171
Santa Cruz Valley	p. 172
A Man Called Horse, and/or Several Other Things	p. 173
Poem	p. 176
"In Thy Sleep/Little Sorrows Sit and Weep"	p. 177
The Eskimos Build a Totem Pole	p. 179
eskimo grin	p. 180
Today I Will Admire	p. 181
Wanting the Moon I	p. 182
Wanting the Moon II	p. 183
Dump Poem	p. 184
"You can't grip years, Postume..."	p. 185
Sumac's Covers and Contributors	p. 187
Index to Sumac Magazine	p. 199
Contributors Notes	p. 231
Index	p. 239
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.