Poetry. "At the beginning of her astounding new book, Joan Retallack posts a warning from Immanuel Kant 'against arguing directly from the logical possibility of concepts to the real possibility of things.' It seems to me that Retallack has succeeded brilliantly by flouting Kant's injunction. 'The real possibility of things' shimmers and sings on every page of PROCEDURAL ELEGIES, creating a living entity through means that remain as mysterious as they are vital"—John Ashbery.

Author City: ANNANDLE-HUDSON, NY USA

Joan Retallack is the author of nine books of poetry, including PROCEDURAL ELEGIES/WESTERN CIV CONT'D/, MEMNOIR, How to Do Things with Words, and Afterimages. She is also the author of Musicage, a volume of conversations she had with John Cage over a three-year period. Her most recent critical works are The Poethical Wager and Gertrude Stein: Selections, for which she wrote an extensive introductory essay. Retallack is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Humanities at Bard College.

Reviews and Other Links
Helena Fitzgerald in The Brooklyn Rail
Named one of Artforum's 13 Best Books of 2010