Notes

“830 Fireplace Road (2)” “I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.” Jackson Pollock, “My Painting,” Possibilities 1 (Winter 1947-48).

 

“Bowery Studio” Eva Hesse (1936-1970)

 

“Studio Dream” Philip Guston (1913-1980)

 

“Broadcast from 791 Broadway” Frank O’Hara (1926-1966)

 

“Fourth Metabolic Isthmus Sestina” and “Fifth Metabolic Isthmus Sestina” are part of an ongoing series dedicated to Oskar Pastior.

 

“Autobiography in Red and Yellow” is dedicated to Garrett Caples, Jeff Clark, and Andrew Joron, because, like the author, all of them were born and grew up in a part of Shanghai that borders rue de Grenelle.

 

vowel sonatas Rosmarie Waldrop invited me to contribute a poem to a festschrift for the innovative Austrian poet Ernst Jandl. Along with the invitation she sent me one of Jandl’s poems, “die grosse e,” which had the letter “e” in each word of the poem. I took this principle as the starting point. After I finished “the late tale,” it occurred to me that I shouldn’t privilege one vowel over the others, and that I should write a poem applying the same principle to each vowel including “y.”

 

“ninety-nine yaupon rosary cycle” is for Anselm Berrigan.