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| Clayton Eshleman The First World August/September 2003 Linked to indescribable power, to its shadow analyzed by minorities who have, in my lifetime, refused to remain anonymous— "Until the missing story of ourselves is told, nothing besides told can suffice us; we shall go on quietly craving it." Until now I read Laura Riding’s statement as referring to something I did not know how to disclose to myself about my life. Tonight, "ourselves" rings communal. What is missing: the rock against which I might place my shoulder Allen Ginsberg’s "queer shoulder to the wheel" Aimé Césaire’s task may be Sisyphean, but to be able to push for a people, that in and of itself is significant resistance— To write the disappearance of what I am? Pushing my void as the comestible of ghosts to come. Clayton Eshleman Song Cecilia Bartoli seems to taste her voice, one moment a jowly barber, the next a gleeful coquette As her neck muscles stretched screwing her face up into a castle grotesque, I saw a napalmed Vietnamese girl’s face— showing through voice as speeded-up waterfall, voice as jewelfall, the frozen O hole Scream strewn smile In each scream the screwdriver of early mind attempting to loosen the bolt God sank into the rippling cuttable cords by which song spurts dying almost fuse. Clayton Eshleman, poet, translator, and educator, has founded and edited two seminal literary journals, Caterpillar and Sulfur, published twelve books of original poetry, two volumes of essays, and nine volumes of translations. He was the recipient of the National Book Award in 1979 for his co-translation of César Vallejo’s Complete Posthumous. |
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Out now: |
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The Rail invites you to a reading with Jason Flores-Williams and Brian Carreira, along with musical guest Steve Strunsky of the Lonesome Prairie Dogs. Thurs., Sept. 22, 8:30 p.m. Vox Pop--Flatbush, Brooklyn www.voxpop.net |
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OFF THE RAIL FALL 2005 at the Central Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library - Grand Army Plaza |
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The Independent Press Association-NY recently honored The Brooklyn Rail with the following awards: |