After reading your new poem, Tambourine, I read up on Osip Mandelstam (on Wikipedia, of course!) finding resonances there for some tidbits from your poem: goldfinch was one such; death by unspecified illness (lice? typhus?) was another. Another resonance was much more general ... the Wikipedia write-up quoted O.M. saying something like "Where else but in the USSR is poetry SO respected that poets can get KILLED for what they write?"
I'd like to read more about/by Mandelstam, and -- thanks to Wikipedia -- I know to look for the two memoir(?) volumes written by his wife/widow. Probably a good starting place! And -- thanks to "Tambourine" -- I know to ask YOU to recommend a "first" volume of his poetry (in English translation, please!) as my "next step" in THAT direction ... please-and-thank-you!
-- dhsh
PS: Using a link provided on the Literary Imagination page, I found "other articles by AShields" including this one ... sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/5552/102 ... which even has your middle initial "right"!
After reading your new poem, Tambourine,
ReplyDeleteI read up on Osip Mandelstam (on Wikipedia,
of course!) finding resonances there for
some tidbits from your poem:
goldfinch was one such;
death by unspecified illness
(lice? typhus?) was another.
Another resonance was much more general ...
the Wikipedia write-up quoted O.M. saying
something like "Where else but in the USSR
is poetry SO respected that poets can get
KILLED for what they write?"
I'd like to read more about/by Mandelstam,
and -- thanks to Wikipedia -- I know to look
for the two memoir(?) volumes written by his
wife/widow. Probably a good starting place!
And -- thanks to "Tambourine" -- I know
to ask YOU to recommend a "first" volume
of his poetry (in English translation, please!)
as my "next step" in THAT direction ...
please-and-thank-you!
-- dhsh
PS: Using a link provided on the Literary
Imagination page, I found "other articles
by AShields" including this one ...
sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/5552/102
... which even has your middle initial "right"!
My poem was inspired by Ralph Dutli's German biography of Mandelstam, which is unfortunately not available in English.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, most of the Mandelstam I have read is in German, so I am at a loss to recommend English versions. I'll post a call for suggestions.
A powerful poem--thanks for posting the link (and for writing it!).
ReplyDeleteIt's a cool magazine, too--I think I'll ask my library to subscribe.
Best,
K