The Drunken Boat Spring 2000

	The Drunken Boat Spring 2000: Issue I “When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.”—John F. Kennedy
Current Issue … Poetry … Translations … Talk … Reviews … Featured Presses … Index … Masthead … Submissions … Contact Us … Guestbook/Comments… Title Poem …

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Poetry from Europe includes never-before translated works by

Robert Desnos
Leah Rudnitsky

A new translation of The Drunken Boat by

Arthur Rimbaud

Poetry from Israel includes new work by

Karen Alkalay-Gut
Mordechai Beck
Rochelle Mass

and never-before translated poems by:

Iris Le’al
Ben Zion Tomer

Poetry from the United States :

Thomas Lux
Jan Freeman
W.D. Ehrhart
Roger Fanning
Linda Lee Harper
Miriam Sagan
Donald Platt
Joyce Wilson
Ellen Dudley
Elaine Schwager
Lee Sharkey
Christine Hemp
David Conford

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Mapping the Poetry World: Reviews

W;t
Can a play that incorporates the holy sonnets of John Donne succeed in conquering Death? A review of the performance by Judith Light in Boston, February 2000, and an argument with the appropriation of poetry.
By Joyce Wilson

Repeat Voyages:
Each issue will feature a notable book of the last five years that deserves more critical attention. Even a MacArthur award winner can be overlooked in today’s deluge of titles. Revisit Eleanor Wilner’s Reversing the Spell: New and Selected Poems .

Hooks: Mini-Reviews

Another Desert: Jewish Poetry of New Mexico.
A collection edited by Joan Logghe and Miriam Sagan. Poetry by Robin Becker, Natalie Goldberg, Yehudis Fishman, Carol Moldaw, and many others, including converso poets of northern New Mexico, preoccupied with reclaiming one’s heritage and beliefs.

Lluvia en el desierto: Rain in the Desert
A bilingual collection by Marjorie Agosín in which the deserts of New Mexico and Chile become an interior landscape of oppression and of longing.

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Ports of Call: Featured Ezines

Switched-on Gutenberg
Food/Hunger/Sustenance. With all the connotations and denotations implicit in this subject, we have quite an array of poems, which the co-editors have arranged like the menu for a seven course feast in a French restaurant . . .
By Jana Harris

The Poetry Porch
A place on the World Wide Web, a walkway adjacent to the main building of the humanities, but with a separate roof under which a few poets have gathered to exchange their original work and ideas about writing.
By Joyce Wilson

Santa Fe Poetry Broadside
The e-zine equivalent of a tiny magazine. In the tradition of the mimeo revolution–we publish whatever we feel like! In most cases this is the poetry of our extended community, New Mexico and beyond.
By Miriam Sagan

On the Road to Paradise
Ruth Stone describes poetry as “the road to paradise” as she discusses poems from her newest collection, Ordinary Words . In her eighties, Stone is not only writing but writing startling original work. A full feature interview with Ruth Stone, including poems from her book which was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award on March 13, 2000.
By Rebecca Seiferle

American Poetry
How would we define the state of American Poetry at the beginning of the millennium? Ellen Dudley from the Marlboro Review , Lee Sharkey of Beloit Poetry Journal , Miriam Sagan of Santa Fe Poetry Broadside and Joyce Wilson of The Poetry Porch debate the issue in a conversation that ranges across a variety of topics and approaches.

The Circle and the Star
In the late 1930’s, the great French surrealist, Robert Desnos, wrote a series of poems for the children of his friends. These translations, by Todd Sanders, are published by Air and Nothingness Press in the anniversary year of Desnos’ birth. This is the first time that these poems have been translated into English. Also see our feature on the book.

Discovery: Editor’s Pick

“Birds Are Dreaming on the Branches” Sometimes, to rescue a poem is to rescue the poet is to rescue a people. Anthologized in many collections, this poem has been attributed to a Leah Rudinsky as a “lullaby written by a woman killed in the pogroms in the Pale in the 30’s.” A search, motivated by the belief that this poem was indeed the work of a real poet, led Karen Alkalay-Gut, the translator, to the Wiesenthal pages where she found that “Leah Rudnitsky” won a prize in 1942 in the Vilna Ghetto for her poetry. Written in Yiddish, this is the first time that the poem has been translated into English and that the poet has recovered her name.

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Flagships: Featured Presses

Rattapallax Named for Wallace Steven’s word for thunder, this press is making news by offering a CD of the authors reading along with the printed collection. Read of the meeting that brought this press into existence. “Our initial choice for a name was “The Raftered Garret,” a choice we were uneasy with, especially after seeing the grimaces by the poets we tested it on. Too Victorian! Too musty! A hundred names later, we settled on “Rattapallax,” because we all liked Wallace Stevens’ poetry and his word for the sound of thunder. It was catchy. Nobody knew what it meant. It would provoke curiosity and, hopefully, be remembered.”
By George Dickerson

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Sextant and Compass: Resources for Writers

New Works Review , founded in 1997 by a group of volunteers, is a quarterly non-profit journal now in its third year of publication, representing the serious creative writer of all ages…every author keeps all rights to his work…Beginning writers’ works are published alongside professional writers, thereby encouraging the young and older creative writers.
By Lucia C. Greer

Pudding House Writers Resource Center is the umbrella you’ll want over you for few days if you’re sure you need to get away, get caught up, get back to the manuscript, maybe even obtain some professional 1-on-1 assistance with your poetry, grant proposal, literary resume, or building a chapbook.
By Jennifer Bosveld

Featured Presses:

Rattapallax Press

Featured Poetry Ezines:

Switched-on Gutenberg

Santa Fe Poetry Broadside

The Poetry Porch

KotaPress Journal

Ezines with Resources for Writers:

New Works Review

Pudding House

Links for now but features forthcoming in the Summer Issue, online in July:

Archipelago

Bellingham Review

the Marlboro Review

Beloit Poetry Journal

Paris Press

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Safe Haven:

KotaPress
In memory of our child Dakota Jones. Our wish is that Dakota’s spirit will continue on this earth through the efforts of this independent press that is based in Seattle. At this point all of our efforts have involved poetry to some degree or another. The poetic focus came as a direct result of using poetry to process grief after the loss of Dakota.
By Kara Jones

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Featured Books:

Ordinary Words
by Ruth Stone
National Book Critics Circle Award

I Want Your Chair
by Elaine Schwager
A stunning debut.

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Click to enter

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Recommended Links:

Poetry Daily
Poets&Writers;

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