mentions / Paul Blackburn

As I've mentioned before, it's great to see all of the attention Joe Ceravolo's poetry has been getting lately. It probably won't lead to a Complete or Collected anytime soon, but it's nice to see he has many passionate fans out there. Most of the time when I mentioned him to someone as one of my favorites in the mid or late ’90s, it was almost certainly "Joe who?" A few years ago when I was posting "to" Jack Spicer, he seemed like he was slipping from his one-time relatively prominent place in the minds of those working in the "New American Poetry" traditions. That trend, too, has been reversed in recent years. What should happen next is to get more people talking again about Paul Blackburn. And UC, or somebody, should put his Collected Poems back in print—a used copy will set you back $85 at Amazon. His poems can be "crude" at times and that's likely to keep him from gaining a "general audience," not willing to see past it—or even better, deal with it—and recognize his technical mastery, embedded and not flaunted. He wrote with a bluntness that's refreshing in poetry, but not necessarily welcome. Anyway, got to get ready for work now. Here's a poem of his, a gentleness, from The Cities.

The Art
by Paul Blackburn

to write poems, say,
is not a personal achievement
that bewilderment

On the way to work
two white butterflies
& clover along the walks

to ask    .
to want that much of it    .