A Form/of Taking/It All

by Rosmarie Waldrop

The two great perceptual revolutions of the fifteenth and twentieth centuries were inaugurated by Columbus and Modern Physics respectively. In her novelistic reflections on these eras of change in consciousness, and the persons and circumstances which brought them about, this acclaimed poet/novelist's brilliant narrative passes through stream of consciousness, first-person narration, and poetry, in a unique meditation on love and politics, conquest and tolerance, and the effects of change.

Genres: Poetry

90 pages, Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

Rosmarie Waldrop (born August 24, 1935), née Sebald, is a contemporary American poet, translator and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958. She has lived in Providence, Rhode Island since the late 1960s. Waldrop is coeditor and publisher of Burning Deck Press, as well as the author or coauthor (as of 2006) of 17 books of poetry, two novels, and three books of criticism.

Reviews

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Read in this edition, but DNF The Hanky of Pippin's Daughter)

The book is divided into four sections:

(1) a stream-of-consciousness account of an imagined trip to Mexico in which the life of poet Amy Lowell intersects with that of geographer/explorer Alexander von Humboldt during his journeys to the New World (Waldrop conceived the idea years before in Europe while she and her husband Keith Waldrop held Amy Lowell and Alexander von Humboldt fellowships, respectively). Waldrop notes that what these two had in common was 'more or less suppressed homosexuality'. How this manifests in both of their lives arises as a prominent theme.

(2) a collage of texts inspired by Konrad Bayer's The Head of Vitus Bering

(3) a first-person meditation on love, writing, and politics

(4) a poetic examination in parallel of Columbus’s America and the new physics

Excerpts recur between the four parts, keeping them sewn together through theme, particularly of otherness, even as form and content diverge. Waldrop’s skill with language and her constant efforts toward pushing its limits are fully on display here, but as often with her work I struggled to really connect to the text beyond just a surface appreciation for her talent.

The weather is changing. Loss by radiation in excess of. I scrutinize the form and color of clouds, the trace of wind in the sycamores, flock of sparrows, the depth of shadows for clues of tomorrow’s verbs. The delay is fatal. What has happened to today? The color grey, not blue.

[Gracey Downer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am confused but I am free

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

One hell of an inventive idea. I loved parts of it, and really struggled with a lot of it too. Warrants re-reads.