Monday, January 26, 2015

TOD (Time of Death) (after “The Raven”)

All ways blocked, and future gloomy; suicide seems bright and roomy;
Now’s my chance for rebirth, I will leave this dismal life role.
I’ll return as Queen of Sheba, or a vampire, or a reaver,
or a saint who cures the nouveau riche, a wonderous, wealthy soul.
Yes, you see, I’ve found my niche, to preach and prosper, marvelous goal!
(Pills I took just took their toll.)

Now I feel my limbs start numbing; still my brain is bright and humming:
Opiates are worth exploration, Percoset’s a true vacation.
Who’s afraid of drug addiction? Warning labels purport fiction.
Strange, my blood’s slow circulation --- what’s up with my respiration?
Is this my Death’s anticipation? Death now or imagination?
Death’s approach now, or elation?

As my last act I will vomit, weakened, I will choke upon it.
As it turns out, life is real; and death the realest part; I depart.
While I thought of death as drama, it became this final trauma:
Painful ebbing consciousness, in shit and urine, and this last fart.
Life continues always, right? Now stop this, God, I need a new start . . .
(Cause of death, attack by heart.)

Thursday, January 22, 2015

My translation of Victory over the Sun is featured in Russia Beyond the Headlines!

My translation of the first Futurist opera, Victory over the Sun by Aleksei Kruchenych, is prominently featured in Phoebe Taplin's great article on the enduring appeal of the Russian avant-garde in Russia Beyond the Headlines. Thanks to my publisher, Gloria Mindock of Červená Barva Press, Eugene Ostashevsky for his brilliant introduction, and Alexander Cigale for the design and other help with this publication!

http://rbth.com/literature/2015/01/21/the_enduring_appeal_of_russias_avant-garde_43039.html

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

"Philip Nikolayev’s Embedded Sonnets: The Combinatorics of Context" published in Vol. 1 Issue 4 of Ihe Battersea Review, Winter 2015

My critical article on Philip Nikolayev's immured sonnets, which are vispo, formal verse, and experimental poetry combined, appears in the current edition of The Battersea Review

http://thebatterseareview.com/critical-prose/213-philip-nikolayev-s-embedded-sonnets-the-combinatorics-of-context

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Compass Translation Award Ceremony

I'm please to be reading at the Compass Award-2014 Ceremony, which will take place at Poets House in New York, on Saturday, January 17 at 4:00 pm.

The presentation of Compass awards for Arseniy Tarkovsky translations will happen in conjunction with the launch of Volume 4 of Cardinal Points literary journal (presented by StoSvet Project, together with MadHat Press http://madhat-press.com/ and Russian-American Cultural Center http://www.russianamericanculture.com/ ).

This year's Compass Award Ceremony is dedicated to the memory of George Kline and Nina Cassian, both esteemed Cardinal Points friends and authors.

The poet for the 2015 contest will be announced at the Award Ceremony.

With questions concerning the event, please contact Alexander Veytsman, the Director of the Compass Award at compass@stosvet.net

Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Happy Russian Christmas!

Happy Russian Christmas, friends! С Рождеством, друзья! Best of everything in 2015!

Monday, January 05, 2015

WORKSHOP: ANAPEST, DACTYL, IAMB, TROCHEE

Anapest, dactyl, iamb, trochee: Don't know what these metric feet are? Don't worry; by the end of this workshop, you will! We will read, write, and recite metric poetry and learn to scan poems using Shakespeare, Dickinson, Poe, Annie Finch, Timothy Steele, and others.

Comfortable space on West 72nd near 1,2,3 trains and M5, M72, and M104 buses. March 7, 14, 21, and 28 4-6 pm; $195. Enrollment limited. Preregistration required. Call 212-712-9865.

Workshop leader Larissa Shmailo is poetry editor of MadHat Annual, editor-in-chief of Twenty-first Century Russian Poetry, and translator of the Russian Futurist opera Victory over the Sun. Her work has been published in over 100 noted journals and will appear in the new Random House anthology of metrical verse, Measure for Measure.

Sunday, January 04, 2015

Poem in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion!

Delighted to learn today that the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion has accepted my poem, "Apple Bhagan of Mahadevi-Akka," for publication in their Spring 2015 issue! Mahadevi-Akka was a prominent 12th century Dravidian poet who wrote in Kannada, often to Lord Siva. A bhaghan (also bhajan) is a devotion or prayer. I will post the text of the poem, as always, after it has appeared in the Journal.

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