Music—sustained, passionate, tenacious—remains innocent of effort. It is a feeling that persists in the act of hands, breath and senses. As melody, persistence makes the action of sound easy and sweet. Every day, Thoreau went out of the house of mourning to meet his senses where the music never stopped. Undebauched, undulled, never so much begun as continuing, the music of the day is ever available: “cheap and simple.” From the available music, Thoreau could easily draw a full day’s measure of poetry and truth, as above, in the innocent insistence of “sound alone.” Our senses make tenacity a mere matter of waking (and of walking) to the world. There, uninterrupted by insensible referral, we find everything to be intrinsic. We find no duplication. Every sound originates with itself. And so, as a passage from A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers believes, “The heart is forever inexperienced.” Presence is percussion. All being makes a sound and another and then another. The truth and poetry of being are ever present unprepared, all parts particular. Here in the world, hearts hear, and a new heart beats in every sound.
Far in the night, as we were falling asleep on the bank of the Merrimack, we heard some tyro beating a drum incessantly, in preparation for a country muster, as we learned, and we thought of the line,—
“When the drum beat at dead of night.”
We could have assured him that his beat would be answered, and the forces be mustered. Fear not, thou drummer of the night; we too will be there. And still he drummed on in the silence and the dark. This stray sound from a far-off sphere came to our ears from time to time, far, sweet, and significant, and we listened with such an unprejudiced sense as if for the first time we heard at all. No doubt he was an insignificant drummer enough, but his music afforded us a prime and leisure hour, and we felt that we were in season wholly. These simple sounds related us to the stars. Ay, there was a logic in them so convincing that the combined sense of mankind could never make me doubt their conclusions. I stop my habitual thinking, as if the plow had suddenly run deeper in its furrow through the crust of the world. How can I go on, who have just stepped over such a bottomless skylight in the bog of my life? Suddenly old Time winked at me,—Ah, you know me, you rogue,—and news had come that IT was well. That ancient universe is in such capital health, I think undoubtedly it will never die. Heal yourselves, doctors; by God I live.
—from “Monday,” A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
It really works. A present attention to particular sound realizes a place relating a place of one’s own therein: a new world and new words; a poem. Hearing the real, incessant drum-taps straying through the dark, Thoreau is instantly “in season wholly,” i.e., alert and fertile, i.e., present for a change. And change comes. The logic of the onomatopoeic instant overturns all convictions and previous logic. It is a wilding of habit. It is a deeper ground. It is a poem, as only poetry could overstep a skylight in a bog. The wink of Time in allegorical rough-and-ready assures us that Time is well. Surely the well-being of Time is news that stays news: i.e., a poem.
It is not words that I wish to hear or to utter—but relations that I seek to stand in …
—Journals, December 22, 1851
Sounds occur to our hearing: to our hearing. They are immediately related, and we receive them in unique relationship. From Thoreau, I learn that poetry is not words primarily. Not even words are words originally. First comes sound. Standing or walking in his faith, Thoreau was always positioned to hear what Whitman, in a like place, called “the origin of all poems.” Poetry is first a relation to the sounds of a day and only subsequently the relating of itself in sentences and lines. And what comes first is, eventually, enough. Composer Charles Ives, the most articulate Thoreauvian of all, once announced “American music is already written.” In the moments of days, for anyone standing in good relation to the sounds, American poetry is also already written. Thoreau says so.
Above all, we cannot afford not to live in the present. He is blessed over all mortals who loses no moment of the passing life in remembering the past. Unless our philosophy hears the cock crow in every barnyard within our horizon, it is belated. That sound commonly reminds us that we are growing rusty and antique in our employments and habits of thought. His philosophy comes down to a more recent time than ours. There is something suggested by it that is a newer testament—the gospel according to this moment.
— “Walking”
By the sound of things, unbelated is eternal. I awaken to no immediate danger. The gospel is right on time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PERMISSIONS
The editors express gratitude to everyone who offered their time and expertise while we were working on Tributes, with special thanks to Nancy Crampton, Rollie McKenna, Jonathan Williams, Gail Roub, Joe LeSueur, George Robert Minkoff, Declan Spring/ New Directions Publishing Corporation, Eleanor W. Traylor/ Howard University, Nancy MacKechnie/Vassar College Libraries, Erick Falkensteen/The Granger Collection, Quincy Troupe, Robert Kelly, Anthony McCall, Thalia Field, Karen Walker, Sadia Talib and, in particular, our managing editor, Michael Bergstein.
Quotations from the work of Sterling Brown are reprinted by permission. “Strong Men,” “Frankie and Johnny,” “The New Congo,” “Mob” (section VII from “Side by Side”), the first two stanzas of “Crispus Attucks McKoy” and the penultimate stanza of “Honey Mah Love” are reprinted from The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown, copyright © 1980 by Sterling A. Brown. Originally published by Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. in 1980, and reprinted by TriQuarterly Books in 1989 and by TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press in 1996 by arrangement with HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. “Frankie and Johnny” was published in Southern Roads by Sterling A. Brown; copyright © 1932 by Harcourt, Brace & Co.; copyright renewed 1960 by Sterling A. Brown. All rights reserved; this material is used with permission of Northwestern University Press.
Quotations from Yvor Winters, Edwin Arlington Robinson, reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation. Copyright © 1971 by New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Quotations from Jack Kerouac, Mexico City Blues, reprinted by permission of Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. Copyright © 1995 by John Sampatakakos, literary representative.
Quotations from Frank Stanford, You and The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You by permission of C. D. Wright. Copyright © the Estate of Frank Stanford. Material on the horse apple, in C. D. Wright’s “Of the Mulberry Family: An Arkansas Epilogue,” adapted from Trees of Arkansas, by Dwight M. Moore. Reprinted by permission of Arkansas Forestry Commission.
Quotations from Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. Copyright © 1947, 1948, 1952 by Ralph Ellison.
Quotations from Kenneth Patchen, First Will & Testament; Orchards, Thrones & Caravans; Red Wine & Yellow Hair; and The Famous Boating Party reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation. Copyright © 1939, 1949, 1952, 1954 by New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Quotations from Edward Dahlberg, The Edward Dahlberg Reader, reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation. Copyright © 1961 by Edward Dahlberg and New Directions Publishing Corporation.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
WILL ALEXANDER has three books forthcoming: Towards the Primeval Lightning Field (O Books), Above the Human Nerve Domain (Pavement Saw Press) and Impulse & Nothingness (Sun & Moon Press).
AMIRI BARAKA has recently published Transbluesency: Selected Poems 1961-1995 (Marsilio), Funk Lore: Recent Poetry (Littoral Press), Eulogies (Marsilio) and The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones. He and his wife, the poet Amina Baraka, are co-directors of Kimako’s Blues People, a multimedia arts space. He is also artistic director of The Newark Music Project, a research and publishing group working at archiving all the music produced in Newark. The first concert in January 1998 will be the works of Willie “The Lion” Smith.
SVEN BIRKERTS is the author of four books of essays, most recently The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading
in an Electronic Age (Faber & Faber).
CATHERINE BOWMAN is the author of two collections of poems, 1-800-HOT-RIBS and Rock Farm, both published by Gibbs Smith. She teaches at Indiana University.
ANA CASTILLO is a novelist, poet, editor and essayist. Her most recent publications include a book of short stories, Loverboys (W. W. Norton), and Goddess of the Americas: Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe, an anthology (Riverhead).
NORMA COLE’s most recent books of poetry are MOIRA (O Books) and Contrafact (Potes & Poets). An active translator of contemporary French writing, she has just (with Stacy Doris) co-edited Raddle Moon 16, a special issue of French writers appearing in North America for the first time.
ROBERT CREELEY is presently at work on a collaboration with the German artist Georg Baselitz. New Directions will publish a new collection of his poems, Life & Death, in spring of 1998, and a reissue of Hello, Later and Mirrors in one volume under the title Later will be published in fall 1998.
VICTOR HERNÁNDEZ CRUZ writes in English and Spanish and lives in Puerto Rico. His most recent book is Panoramas, published by Coffee House Press.
LYDIA DAVIS is the author of Break It Down and The End of the Story (both published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux) as well as numerous translations from the French including works by Maurice Blanchot and Michel Leiris. A new collection of stories, Almost No Memory, has just been issued by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
ELAINE EQUI is the author of several books of poetry, including Surface Tension and Decoy, both from Coffee House Press. A new collection, Voice-Over, is forthcoming in 1998. She teaches at Rutgers University and The New School.
STEVE ERICKSON is the author of Days Between Stations, Rubicon Beach, Tours of the Black Clock, Leap Year and Arc d’X, all published by Poseidon Press, and Amnesiascope and American Nomad, published by Henry Holt.
ELI GOTTLIEB’S first novel, The Boy Who Went Away, was published by St. Martin’s Press in January 1997.
MAUREEN HOWARD is the author of the novels Natural History (W. W. Norton) and Bridgeport Bus (Penguin) and a memoir, Facts of Life (Penguin). Her new novel, A Lover’s Almanac, will be published by Viking in January 1998.
SIRI HUSTVEDT is the author of a collection of poems, Reading to You (Open Book Publications), and the novels The Blindfold (Poseidon Press) and The Enchantment of Lily Dahl (Henry Holt). A book of essays, Yonder, will be published by Holt in the spring of 1998.
ROBERT KELLY’s most recent books are Red Actions: Selected Poems 1960-1993 (Black Sparrow Press), the fictional Queen of Terrors (McPherson & Co.) and the long poem Mont Blanc (Otherwind Press).
JIM LEWIS is the author of two novels: Sister (Graywolf) and Why the Tree Loves the Ax (Crown).
PHILLIP LOPATE’s most recent essay collection is Portrait of My Body (Doubleday/ Anchor). He is editor of The Art of the Personal Essay (Anchor) and The Anchor Essay Annual (Anchor), and teaches at Hofstra University.
NATHANIEL MACKEY’s book of poetry Whatsaid Serif is due out soon from City Lights. Bedouin Hornbook, the first volume of his ongoing epistolary fiction From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate, was recently reissued by Sun &. Moon Press, which also published volume two, Djbot Baghostus’s Run. A third volume in the series, Atet A.D., is forthcoming.
BEN MARCUS is the author of The Age of Wire and String (Knopf). He lives in Providence.
CAROLE MASO is the author of Ghost Dance (Ecco), The Art Lover (Ecco), AVA (Dalkey Archive), The American Woman in the Chinese Hat (Plume), Aureole (Ecco) and, forthcoming from Dutton, Defiance.
ELLEN McLAUGHLIN’s plays include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity’s House and Iphigenia and Other Daughters, all of which have received American and international productions. Her latest play, Tongue of a Bird, premieres at the Intiman Theater in Seattle and will also be produced at the Almeida Theater in London.
DAVID MEANS is the author of A Quick Kiss of Redemption and Other Stories (William Morrow). His recent fiction appeared in Harper’s and Paris Review.
PAUL METCALF’s Collected Works have recently been published as a three-volume set by Coffee House Press.
RICK MOODY is the author of the novels The Ice Storm and Purple America, both published by Little, Brown and Co.
BRADFORD MORROW’s novels are Come Sunday (Penguin), The Almanac Branch (W. W. Norton), Trinity Fields (Penguin) and, most recently, Giovanni’s Gift (Viking). He is the founding editor of Conjunctions.
JOYCE CAROL OATES is the author most recently of the novel Man Crazy and the story collection Will You Always Love Me? (both published by Dutton). She is the 1996 recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for Achievement in the Short Story.
LAWRENCE OSBORNE is the author of Paris Dreambook and a collection of essays, The Poisoned Embrace (Vintage). He is currently writing a book on New York.
DALE PECK is the author of three novels, all from Farrar, Straus & Giroux: Martin and John, The Law of Enclosures and the forthcoming Now It’s Time to Say Goodbye.
DONALD REVELL is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Beautiful Shirt (Wesleyan). His translation of Guillaume Apollinaire’s Alcools was published by Wesleyan in 1995.
JOHN SAYLES is the author of the novels Pride of the Bimbos, Union Dues and Los Gusanos and the story collection The Anarchists’ Convention, all published by HarperCollins. Some of the films he has written and directed are Lone Star, Return of the Secaucus 7, Eight Men Out and Matewan.
JOANNA SCOTT’s most recent novel, The Manikin (Henry Holt), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She teaches at the University of Rochester.
NTOZAKE SHANGE is the author of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (MacMillan) as well as the poetry collection Nappy Edges (St. Martin’s Press) and the novel Betsey Brown (Picador USA).
LISA SHEA is the author of Hula, a. novel (W. W. Norton), and is completing a second novel, The Free World. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award.
MONA SIMPSON is the author of A Regular Guy (Knopf). She is working on My Hollywood, a novel, and a collection of short stories, Virginity and Other Fictions.
PETER STRAUB is the author of many best-selling novels, among them Ghost Story (Pocket), Shadowland (Berkley), Koko (Dutton), The Throat (Dutton) and The Hellfire Club (Random House). He was selected as grand master at the 1997 World Horror Convention.
COLE SWENSEN’s most recent book of poetry is Noon (Sun & Moon Press). Numen was published in 1995 (Burning Deck) and her translation of Art Poetic’ by Olivier Cadiot will be out this year from Sun & Moon. She is director of the creative writing program at the University of Denver.
LYNNE TILLMAN’s recent books include the novel Cast in Doubt (Poseidon Press) and The Velvet Years: Warhol’s Factory 1965-1967 (Thunder’s Mouth Press), with photographs by Stephen Shore. The Broad Picture (Serpent’s Tail), her first collection of essays, just appeared in August. Her new novel, No Lease on Life (Harcourt Brace), will be published in January.
QUINCY TROUPE is the author of Avalanche, a volume of poems (Coffee House Press). Miles and Me: A Memoir of Miles Davis (University of California Press) will be published in the fall of 1998. He teaches literature and creative writing at the University of California, San Diego.
ANNE WALDMAN’s most recent works are Iovis, Book II (Coffee House Press) and Songs of the Sons and Daughters of Buddha, translations with Andrew Schelling (Shambhala). She is editor of The Beat Book (Shambhala) and co-editor of Disembodied Poetics: Annals of the Jack Kerouac School (University of New Mexico Press).
MAC WELLMAN is a poet and playwright living in New York. He is a recipient of a Lila Wallace—Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award for 1996. His play Fnu Lnu will be produced by Soho Rep in October.
PAUL WEST’s novel The Tent of Orange Mist (Scribner) was runner-up for the National Book Critics Circle Award for 1996. In the same year, the government of France made him a Chevalier of Arts and Letters. His most recent works of fiction are the novella Sporting with
Amaryllis (Overlook) and Terrestrials (Scribner), both published in 1997.
DIANE WILLIAMS’s most recent book is The Stupefaction, out from Knopf. She co-edits Story Quarterly.
JONATHAN WILLIAMS’s next book of poems will be Kinnikinnick Brand Kickapoo Joy-Juice (Turkey Press), with drawings by John Furnival of the Norman church at Kilpeck in Herefordshire.
C. D. WRIGHT’s most recent collection of poetry is Tremble (Ecco). She co-edits Lost Roads Publishers, a book press, and is on the faculty at Brown University.
KEVIN YOUNG’s Most Way Home (William Morrow) was selected for the National Poetry Series and won the John C. Zacharis First Book Prize from Ploughshares. He recently completed a traveling exhibition and book-length manuscript of poems on the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. He is assistant professor of English in African-American studies at the University of Georgia.
EDITOR: Bradford Morrow
MANAGING EDITOR: Michael Bergstein
SENIOR EDITORS: Robert Antoni, Martine Bellen, Thalia Field, Pat Sims, Lee Smith
ART EDITOR: Anthony McCall
PUBLICITY: Mark R. Primoff
WEBMASTERS: Brian Evenson, Michael Neff
EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Anne Dearman, Lauren Feeney, Mia Fiore, Blair Holt, Andrew Small, Sadia Talib, Alan Tinkler, Karen Walker
CONJUNCTIONS is published in the Spring and Fall of each year by Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504. This issue is made possible in part with the generous funding of the Lannan Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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