David Hadbawnik's Blog, page 3

It’s been a while…

SO: I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed for the past six to eight months, what with the move overseas and beginning as an assistant professor of English at American University of Kuwait. My attention to this blog was already pretty sparse even prior to that, but I’m making one of my periodic attempts to log in and update more often. To wit, there are a few poetry- and press-related developments that I’d like to mention here.

My translation of the Aeneid, books I-VI, was published by Shearsman Books in September 2015. A big thank you to Carrie Kaser for her wonderful artwork and illustrations, which grace the cover and are included inside as well, and also to Tony Frazer, editor of Shearsman, for guiding the book through publication. Thanks as well to Ian Brinton for a review at Tears in the Fence, and Aaron Poochigian for his comments at Columbia Journal. I’ve also continued to work on books VII-XII, and some of those translations have appeared in Blackbox Manifold 15, with more on the way. The book is available via the publisher, Amazon, or Small Press Distribution.

Meanwhile, thank you to Lisa Ampleman for co-editing the latest issue of kadar koli with me. This one took a long time but we finally got it finished, and the issue, with the Babel Group-related theme of “Off the Books,” looks great — thanks, too, to our contributors: Ruth Williams, Tracy Zeman, Michael Kelleher, Thea Tomaini, Matt McBride, Alison Fraser, Greg Allendorf, Mike Rose-Steel, Paula Billups, Angela Warner, Jonathan Basile, Eileen G’Sell, Les Kay, Katelynn E. Carver, and Kendra Leonard. kadar koli is now published by eth press, and thus it’s available from the site as a free pdf download.

Against Progress: Pastoral and Innovation in Medieval and Renaissance Poetry

A Roundtable at the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, MI, May 12-15, 2016.

Abandon then the base and viler clowne,

Lyft up they selfe out of the lowly dust:

And sing of bloody Mars, of wars, of giusts.

Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender (October, 37-39).

In the introduction to Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, William Cronon writes, “‘[N]ature’ is not nearly so natural as it seems. Instead, it is a profoundly human construction.” This panel seeks to extend Cronon’s observation to the “pastoral,” with papers that mark and comment on the pastoral as one of modernity’s key innovations. Usually seen as an archaizing and nostalgic mode, we seek to explore pastoral’s experimental dimension, which, to borrow Lucy Munro’s definition of archaism, “unsettles relationships between past, present and future even as it seemingly attempts to inscribe them.” This is a fitting way to think pastoral’s lyric playfulness and its startling ambition, exemplified by the rustic sublimity of The Second Shepherds Play and the critical scope of pastoral satire. Virgil’s use of the pastoral is perceived as a strident cry against the “progress” of empire and the encroachment of urban civilization, a kind of nostalgia for the stasis of agrarian life. Later critics and poets saw pastoral verse as a “clownish” jumping-off point for more “mature” and “sophisticated” forays into epic poetry. This panel will elucidate the ways in which the pastoral itself -– both the rural, idyllic scenes it describes and the modes of verse that pastoral increasingly maps out –- is rife with forward-thinking experimentation and innovation. For example, pastoral poetry (following Virgil’s lead) quickly becomes a locale of moral critique, a place from which to speak truth to power. The homely mask of the pastoral poet shields poets who wish to weigh in on risqué political and religious topics, and the rustic, archaic, “dull” speech associated with the pastoral mode likewise offers linguistic cover. Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender is a stunning example of poetic innovation, providing models of poetic diction that remained highly influential among English poets for centuries to come. The pastoral is thus a place set aside by modernity for experimentation with language, a habitus wherein bodily idleness plays against intellectual flights of fancy and the borders between genders (and genres) become blurred.

This roundtable seeks papers that address the myriad ways in which the pastoral, despite (or perhaps because of) its avowed stance against progress and seemingly backwards compositional scene, actually provides a zone in which poets produced some of the most provocative statements and stunning poetic and linguistic advances of the medieval to early modern period.

Deadline for proposals Sept. 15; contact Will Rhodes (wmr2d@virginia.edu) and David Hadbawnik (dh37@buffalo.edu) with proposals or questions.

Pastoral Sketches

A loose “dystranslation” of one of Virgil’s Eclogues, which I’ve been playing around with this month.

Licorice

I.

“My love’s run off with a beat cop”

goes the cry

from Gallus and everyone

gathers round to listen

even the bees fervently

“like” his status

Apollo himself “shares” it

with a pithy comment

or two

the lament spreads and all the shepherds

condemn Licorice

as a dumb cooze while

demanding to know the name

of this fucking cop

who probably beats her

and even worse

hates poetry–

only Pan chimes in

with a rude remark:

“Do you think Love

gives a shit for your whining

any more than hills are moved

by music or winter chill cares

for your sable coat?

Fuck you, Gallus.”

And Gallus replies

“Fuck you”

and the whole thing devolves

into a flame war with nymphs

and naiads weighing in

and in the midst of it

a voice whispers plaintive

but rough

as envelopes ripping open

or wind snapping on

plastic bags caught

in winter branches–

or the sound of dry reeds

when a small bird

lands causing them all

to shake

II.

“Do you think Love gives a shit…”

becomes a meme

that haunts Gallus across

various platforms

shepherds post sexy pics

of Licorice

on Instagram to taunt

him, even

Pinterist

is no safe place

but

secretly he loves it

misery is the fuel

that stokes poetry

so Gallus curses

poetry’s ineffectual

tropes and hunts for

some new mode of

lament, snapping pathetic

selfies on bridges

with the whole city burning

behind him

all a-riot with Love.

Never mind Licorice

never mind the many

flavors of Icelandic yogurt

they once enjoyed

pomegranate and pistachio

and banana split–

all of it

fodder for some poignant

bit of narrative

a warp in the weave

a woman’s body

only a stitch

a footnote

a rubbed-out mark

on a dry-erase board

a rough draft

for some new

poem

Reformation Time

Jonny Lohr was kind enough to send me his new chapbook, Reformation Time. Then Asha and I checked it out in the afternoon sunlight in my office…

PRAYER TO THE MOTHERS

World Poetry Day

I didn’t even know this was a thing but apparently it is. A good time to dust off the blog and post a few updates.

First, not too long ago, Jeffrey Pethybridge was kind enough to publish some excerpts from book 6 of the Aeneid as part of a translation feature on Likestarlings. Along with other parts of books 5/6 coming out soon in the Chicago Review and Shearsman Magazine, this represents the last of the work to trickle out this way before Shearsman Books publishes the whole of books 1-6 in fall 2015. More on this soon; for now, I want to express my gratitude to all the editors who’ve helped get this stuff out there, and the friends who’ve offered encouragement and feedback over the years. Special thanks to Dawn Pendergast at Little Red Leaves for her beautiful editions of books 1-4, and to Carrie Kaser for her brilliant illustrations.

Speaking of translations — segue! — Nate Klug sent me his Song Cave edition of some of Virgil’s Eclogues, titled Rude Woods. A completely different take than ‘my’ Virgil but one I’m excited about and envious of.

Now, of the old ways–ships defying

the seas, barriers between towns, ploughs

gutting earth–a few traces will still survive.

So a second Tiphys must be called back;

a second Argo for the Argonauts;

other wars, yes; and another Achilles

off again angering towards Troy.

Meanwhile, last week, I got to see / meet Michael Farrell as he read at the Western New York Book Arts Collective. He seems to flit between modes and styles with an amazing felicity and skill, and while I enjoyed his reading, I’ll admit that a lot of it zoomed by so quickly that I had trouble appreciating it in the moment. Good thing, then, that I picked up a copy of his new book Cocky’s Joy, which allows me to sit with the poems at greater length.

California Girls

With their crotches they could crush, we’re told,

both the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera

House in one turn of a tanning angle–they’ve

done it in Los Angeles before. They walk with

high heels on Venice Beach: they could make any

rock platform sand. At fifty still wearing bikinis

while lecturing on Whitehead, brushing students

from their hair…

Now, I don’t know about this blurb on the back of the book about him being “the most adventurous and experimental of contemporary Australian poets” — seems like a lot to live up to! — but I find an ease and humor in the poems that’s quite welcoming.

The Novice

Habenicht Press is pleased to announce a new chapbook from John Hyland:

Or holes—but not to slip through, not to be lost. Day rain when one senses things more distinct in the blur.

24pp, saddle stitched; 26 copies hand-sewn, signed and lettered (signed/lettered chapbooks only available from the author).

Shipping to


US $5.00 USDCanada $8.00 USDEurope $10.00 USD

Limited-edition broadsides, available for purchase with the chapbook:

Shipping to


US $7.00 USDCanada $10.00 USDEurope $12.00 USD

Sports

Here’s a new chapbook I just made of some of the “sports”-themed poems I’ve written over the years, and which have been published here and there in journals.

Inside: “Baseball–an Elegy,” “Running Diary,” “Football Poem,” and “The Invention of Baseball.”

27pp, saddle-stitched.

Shipping to


US $5.00 USDCanada $8.00 USDEurope $10.00 USD

And here is a broadside-type thing I made from the plates:

The Aeneid, Books 3 and 4

Now available from Little Red Leaves Textile Series. Thanks once again to Dawn Pendergast for all her hard work on these lovely editions. Steve Mentz reviews the new books here. I’ll have more exciting news on this project in the next month or so, as work from books 5 and 6 begins to make its way into the world.

kadar koli 9

Pleased to announce the publication of kadar koli 9, with a special feature on “the archive.” Contributors include:

John Hyland, Arielle Guy, Gerrit Lansing, Susan Briante, Michael Sikkema, Michael Kelleher, Aaron Tucker, Emily Anderson, David Rich, Jen Tynes, Gillian Hamel, Chris Piuma, Pattie McCarthy, Kevin Varrone, Robin Brox, Richard Owens, Boyd Nielson, Zack Finch, Dale Smith, Morani Kornberg-Weiss, Roger Snell; Special Feature: The Archive — Interview with Ammiel Alcalay; essay by Megan Cook

102pp; $7 plus $3 shipping (U.S.).

Shipping to




US $7.00 USD

Canada $9.00 USD

Europe $12.00 USD