Quipu / Arthur Sze.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sze, Arthur.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

viii, 101 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Port Townsend, Wash. : Copper Canyon Press, [2005]

Summary:

In his eighth collection of poetry, Arthur Sze evokes quipu as both title and unifying metaphor. Composed of dyed, spun, and knotted cords, a quipu is a device created by the Inca as a tactile system of record keeping, calculation, and, possibly, narratives. In Quipu, Sze knots and strings together vibrant poems that move across cultures and times as agilely as they navigate tone and texture.

Sze's poems, long admired for fusing science, history, philosophy, and anthropology, are full of imaginative rigor and urgency; they make us envision the marvels and terrors of our contemporary world. His lines and rhythms are taut, sensuous, and mesmerizing; nouns become verbs - "where is a passion that orchids the body?" - and what appears solid and stable may actually be fluid, volatile. Arthur Sze harnesses the precarious, charged particulars of our lives and, through his luminous language, makes enduring and breathtaking poetry.

Contents:

Before Sunrise 5

Earthshine 9

Ox-Head Dot 19

Syzygy 20

La Bajada 21

Spring Smoke 22

Haircutting 23

Lobed Bowl with Black Glaze and White Scalloped Rim 24

Quipu 27

Aqueous Gold 39

Solstice Quipu 47

Inflorescence 51

Oracle-Bone Script 61

The Welt 62

In the Living Room 63

Acanthus 64

The Thermos 66

Ice Line 67

The Chromatics of Dawn 68

Thermodynamics 69

X and O 70

The Angle of Reflection Equals the Angle of Incidence 73

Earthstar 81

Didyma 85.

ISBN:

1556592264

OCLC:

58788943