Rachel Blau Duplessis

Rachel Blau Duplessis writes poetry in the modernist tradition, which means that new measures and structures are substituted for the more traditional elements of poetry.  Sometimes her poems are reflective, intimate lyrics (especially from her earlier books).  Like such modernists as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, she has been writing a long-poem entitled Drafts--which wavers between the personal and the social.  First time readers who appreciate poetry as the expression of personal feelings ("emotions recollected in tranquility") may find her poetry strange; try to consider it as an investigation into how language can be used not only as a means for expression but also as a tool for perception.

A. Two Early Poems: "Leaving One Place" and "A Poem of Myself"

?How do these poems imagine the self? Connected? Alientated? Othered? What are the needs and fears of the self? Does the term "subjectivity" seem to fit?

B. "Whirr Shrill Crickets"

Take out your commonplace book as you listen to this poem. Attend closely and jot down the most memorable phrase or two, then add the facing-page commentary.

C. "Draft 42: Epistle, Studios"

The title of this poem and the dedication (to a French translator) link it with an ongoing poem project of Duplessis', as well as with the position or situation of an author writing to a future audience.  On one level at least, it is a poem "about" writing, being read, and reading oneself. 

As you listen to the poem, think about the issues we've discussed surrounding authors and authority. Does it remind you of anything in the Theory Toolbox? Where does it surprise you that an author would speak of her own work this way?

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Last Updated: 09 December, 2008