Owl's Head Translation Series

I've decided that, instead of publishing one big book of translations, I'll do small booklets for a while through my publishing company Owl's Head Press. The Lin Chu booklet is almost ready. Next on the list--probably by fall--is a selection of 10 translations of Federico Garcia Lorca. One of the great poets of the last century, he was executed by Franco's men. His body was never found. There was no need for his death. Interestingly enough, he lived during a time when poetry was considered dangerous. Today in North America we're in the Dark Ages of poetry, smothered by the academics and the New Formalists. And anyone who's read their poetry knows they're no threat to anyone.

What would Lorca have said? "We'll have to get down on our hands and knees and eat the grasses of the cemeteries forever."

The only ray of hope in this country is the strong, ctitical writing of Carmine Starnino. Whether you like what he says or not, he's at least willing to go out on a limb. I admire that a lot.

Lin Chu Booklet

I've now completed my last 20 versions of Lin Chu (at least I think they're the last). New Brunswick author and designer Lee Thompson is busy preparing the booklet, and copies will be available soon. Anyone who wants a preview of the poems can see my entry on this blog.

The booklets are available for $25.00, including shipping and handling. It is a limited, signed edition with a hand-sewn binding. Any queries can be sent directly to me at my e-mail address: allan-cooper@excite.com

There are a few tiny poems of Lin Chu that I haven't collected in this book--too few, really, to publish on their own. One is printed below as a little bonus.

Lin Chu wrote in the ecstatic love poem tradition of Rumi and Mirabai.


Little cricket, you called me.
My voice followed you
all the way home.


(Copyright Allan Cooper, 2006)

Day Lilies

New poems are starting to come along. I found a scribble, really (a first draft of a poem on loose leaf) in James Wright's Collected Poems, and decided to rework a few of the lines. A few images seemed right. I kept them, rewrote them, and by the end of the afternoon it was pretty well done. I don't have a clue when I wrote it--probably years ago. I like finding these things. I feel a bit like a squirrel who buries a pine cone and finds it again months later.

DAY LILIES

Today, tired
of the thorns
and shadows of grief,
I am filling with light.

The brook carries the sky
on its back to the sea.
The kingfisher clatters
above the bridge,

waking the lilies
and trout. Out there
on a small patch of lawn
dandelions big as daisies

are almost open. Desire
sleeps on in a spruce cone,
in a snail hunkered down
with its shadow.

There’s a secret out there
somewhere in the grass.
God have mercy on the grass,
thickening its blades in the sun.

(Copyright 2006, Allan Cooper)