Description
Poetry. "When Basil Bunting declared that 'Pens are too light. / Take a chisel to write,' I imagine he had in mind the kind of exact and exacting poetry Ted Pearson has been steadily producing for decades. In THE MARKOV CHAIN, Pearson presents a series of eight-line poems, each composed of four exquisitely crafted alexandrines: 'These formal restrictions // are like benedictions...Constraints lead to freedoms // exceeding predictions.' Raising the ante, Pearson uses these formal constraints to probe the social constraints contemporary culture imposes on art and life. 'When the People say we, // they don't mean you and me. / The consensus they're seeking // will set no one free.' This double take on constraints creates an animating tension throughout the book, one in which 'The gist of the lyric // tells a whole other tale.' Pearson's chiseled poems enact a deep investigation into language that at once revels in and questions its own constraints. Follow at your own pace, but Pearson's ear, as always, won't lead you astray."—Paul Naylor
Author Bio
Ted Pearson was born and raised in Palo Alto, California. He began writing poetry in 1964 and subsequently attended Vandercook College of Music, Foothill College, and San Francisco State. His first book, The Grit, appeared in 1976. He has since published twenty-six books of poetry, including EXTANT GLYPHS: 1964-1980 (Singing Horse Press, 2014), AN INTERMITTENT MUSIC (Chax Press, 2016) and his most recent, Set Pieces (2021). He also co-authored The Grand Piano (2006-2010), a ten-volume experiment in collective autobiography. He now lives in Houston, Texas.
Author City: OAKLAND, CA USA