Blaser, Robin (Glover, Albert)

Pell Mell: Poems

ISBN: 0889103399
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Coach House Press, 1988. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed & signed by Robin Blaser to Albert Glover. “What America and I believed / about that war, armentiere, / a room for two and more, maybe, /at the palace, that’s 1943 and / this is ‘83. I can’t imagine begging / for the uniform in the face of Coke / machines and sergeants who ‘peel / it’-- ‘milk it,’ the man said / before I knew how to milk him and / all he believed in had clabbered, / you can hang it on the clothes- / line, in a small bag to make / cottage cheese, dripping slowly / into the dust and sunshine, some…”--first several stanzas of “belief,” pg. 51. Robin Blaser (1925-2007) was an American-born Canadian poet and playwright. The author of numerous collections of poetry, Blaser’s works include: Nomad (Slug Press, 1995), Syntax (Talonbooks, 1983), Cups (Four Seasons Foundation, 1968), and The Moth Pœm (Open Space, 1964). Blaser’s poetry and prose has been collected into a series of volumes: The Fire: Collected Essays of Robin Blaser (University of California Press, 2006), and Even on Sunday: Essays, Readings, and Archival Materials on the Poetry and Poetics of Robin Blaser, to name a few. Offered today is the 1988 collection Pell Mell Poems. Pell Mell , the middle voice, the syntax meeting its astonishments in its forward stride looking backwards, imagining an image nation where the heart is always torn to pieces possessed by the other(s). A book so sure of itself that Blaser can begin, after the act of said-and-done, a series called Great Companions . Lesser poets might, and have, called them “masters.” But only because they lack Robin Blaser’s insistence on the audacious ever-present. A scatter of pearls for Aphrodite, and a lovely place to enter Blaser’s life work, The Holy Forest . As to the plot, Blaser himself has “These poems follow a principle of randonnée the random and the given of the hunt, the game, the tour. Thus, randonnée is another title of this book, written, so to speak, in invisible ink. These poems are also a further movement in one long work that I call The Holy Forest , though that need not trouble the reader before the forest is full grown. Poems called Image-Nations come and go throughout, never to become a complete nation. And Great Companions of the art of poetry, a series which begins to gather here with Pindar and Robert Duncan, will continue until their voices close The Holy Forest . That’s the plot.” From the collection of Albert Glover (b. 1942), the great American scholar, bibliographer, author & publisher who is the foremost living authority on literary giant Charles Olson (1910-1970; our favorite Maximus Obscurantist), with whom we're honored to be acquainted. Signed & inscribed by Robin Blaser to Albert Glover at half-title page in thin black ink: “For Al Glover – / [undecipherable] Olson – / To be answered by / Bach’s Belief – finally – / valued man. / Robin Blaser.” Trade-format softcover original, First edition though not explicated at copyright page, presumed first printing though similarly not explicated as such. In very fine condition with only minor wear at fine edges, and slight smudging/staining at front and back covers. Interior in very fine condition with no perceptible wear. Very Fine. [Item #8283]

Price: $75.00