Collected poems : 1946-2016 / Harry Mathews.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mathews, Harry, 1930-2017, author.

Contributor:

Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Standardized Title:

Poems

Language:

English

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xv, 288 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Key West : Sand Paper Press, 2020.

Summary:

"Harry Mathews (1930-2017) was among the most inventive and unorthodox writers of his generation. His novels earned comparisons to Vladimir Nabokov and Thomas Pynchon and bear the mark of one who learned "never to settle for results that are merely reassuring." But Mathews was a poet first, and he prized poetry for its transformational and redemptive power. Collected Poems: 1946-2016 gathers seven prior collections, together with poems never before published in book form. Poems dedicated to John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler, and Kenneth Koch show Mathews's origins alongside the poets of the New York School. Others reveal his obsession with the puzzles that animate the Oulipo, the famous French fraternity of writers and mathematicians, in which Mathews was the sole American member. But Mathews's work transcends these affiliations. His maverick avant-gardism is all his own, nourished by wellsprings of romanticism and metaphysical fervor, in dialogue with literature, music, and art from the medieval to the modern period. For Mathews, it was "much more interesting to be curious about a riddle than to find its solution." His ability to fuse the world of facts with the utterly new wildernesses of his imagining will give readers much to look for, while his sensuality, wit, and deep feeling for life's beauties, sorrows, and absurdities are their own rewards. With an introduction by Daniel Levin Becker, who has succeeded Mathews as the only American member of the Oulipo, Collected Poems: 1946-2016 augments and clarifies the extraordinary achievement of a singular American writer"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

I The Last Shall Be First (New Poems) p. 3

Cool gales shall fan the glade p. 5

Quiet Moon p. 7

The Politicians' Antic Spoil p. 8

Notes for "The Politicians' Antic Spoil" p. 10

The Ring (1970) p. 13

Comatas p. 15

Colette p. 21

L'Hôpital des enfants malades p. 31

Stained for Life p. 32

Invitation to a Sabbath p. 33

The Relics p. 34

The Bloody Revivals p. 36

The Ring p. 38

Poems after Robert Reignier p. 40

The Sad Birds p. 45

The Sense of Responsibility p. 48

The Joint Account p. 49

Spell p. 51

The Swimmer p. 52

The Firing Squad p. 53

Cassation on a Theme by Jacques Dupin p. 56

The Pines at Son Beltran p. 57

Liesel in Her Garden p. 58

The Planisphere (1974) p. 59

Deathless, Lifeless p. 61

The Planisphere p. 64

Maria Gostrey p. 66

The Dream-Work p. 67

(More) Poems after Robert Reignier p. 71

The Fenceless Garden p. 73

Shrub Air p. 75

Trial Impressions (1977) p. 77

Trial Impressions p. 79

Selected Declarations of Dependence (1977) p. 101

Perverbial Poems p. 103

Jack's Reminders to the King of Karactica p. 115

Armenian Papers (1987) p. 121

To Miss B p. 123

The Backstage Abettors p. 124

A Homecoming p. 128

Histoire p. 130

Armenian Papers: A Venetian Palimpsest p. 132

Out of Bounds (1989) p. 151

Out of Bounds p. 153

A Mid-Season Sky (1992) p. 161

Condo Auction p. 163

For M.M., 1903-1986 p. 171

Construction Work p. 173

Condition of Death p. 175

Safety in Numbers p. 176

Husserl's Curse p. 178

À L'æil (1994) p. 181

Marriage of Two Minds: Received Visions p. 183

Limericks p. 188

The New Tourism (2010) p. 189

Butter and Eggs: a didactic poem p. 191

First Love at First Sight p. 194

The New Tourism p. 195

In Praise of Heinrich Heine p. 196

The White Wind p. 197

Romantic Poem p. 198

Genoa as Rendezvous p. 199

Ptyx p. 200

Lateral Disregard p. 201

Sussex Days p. 202

Tinguely Museum 8/27/06 p. 203

No Regrets, Though p. 204

In Pursuit of Henry Vaughan p. 205

Waiting for Dusk p. 206

Crème brûlée p. 208

I know that my redeemer liveth p. 209

Haiku Before Sleep p. 210

Uncollected Poems p. 225

[Untitled] "With cursed heavenbound dog ..." p. 227

Music from the Undersea p. 228

Ballad for a Nostalgic Tourist p. 229

Grandma Ate My Bicycle p. 230

Postcard from Naxos p. 231

Shakespeare on Love p. 233

For Elizabeth Barrett's Dog p. 234

An Invisible Inkstand for John Hollander p. 235

Song p. 236

Brutus at Athens p. 237

II

Demonstrations I (in English) p. 241

An Epithalamium p. 243

Thanksgiving Day I p. 246

Thanksgiving Day II p. 246

Replay p. 247

The Invention of Language: A Dialogue p. 248

A Bill Berkson Primer p. 249

Improv on a Sophoclean Theme from Hölderlin p. 251

Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop Exchange Poems p. 252

Presto p. 254

The Calling p. 256

Volusian Music p. 257

House Guest p. 258

At the Maison des Écrivains p. 259

Murray Bay p. 260

For a Mancunian Before Her Thirtieth Birthday p. 261

Homage to the Oulipo p. 262

Demonstrations II (in French) p. 263

La rime triple p. 265

L'oiseau migrateur p. 266

Cours, Mirabeau! p. 267

Insomnies p. 269

L'amélioration p. 270

(Untitled) p. 272

Sextine à synonymes p. 273.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

ISBN:

9780984331284

098433128X

OCLC:

1137752233

Publisher Number:

99984383139