“A Stone,” which originally appeared in The Threepenny Review, is now up at Guesthouse.
Big thanks to 32 poems, for giving a home to these thoughts on the beauty of revision…
My thanks go out to John Miller, for delving so thoughtfully into my translation of the Popol Vuh, on his Great Books Podcast, courtesy of the National Review!
The Popol Vuh is one of the great indigenous myths of the Americas. It’s an astonishing story where the world is born of divine conversation, where creation is ongoing, where brothers go on an epic quest to reckon with death itself, where our ultimate purpose as human being is to recall with gratitude the names of those who made us, and where the climax of the story is the first day dawning, so that Time, as we know it can begin.
This translation project is something I have been working on for a solid decade now – my goal was to make a lucid version that really sings, the first verse translation in English – and thanks to Milkweed Editions, (and their new Seedbank Series), it is now a beautiful book that you can hold in your hand.
Well, here we go. A new book is in the world. This colt’s wobbly on its legs, just arrived, and hoping to be beautiful.
And now it’s available. In gorgeous linen hardcover. A book solid as a brick, willing to stand in for a can of whup-ass, if need be.
I honestly could not be more grateful to the good folks at Horsethief. And to Andrew Shuta & Jakob Vala for the elegant design.
Let me also raise a flask to those kind readers whose open eyes & hearts helped keep me going. I wrote it the way most folks do, using a charred stick dipped in blood. (That’s nothing new, I know.) But I truly hope you’ll give it a chance. It’s ready for a nuzzle.
Much gratitude to editor, Helen Vitoria, for including this poem.
New poem just went live at The Adroit Journal. It’s a beautiful issue. Stop by and wander its halls for a while…
I’m delighted to share that “I Went to the Market” (first published on West Branch) recently appeared on Verse Daily. Huge thanks to G.C. Waldrep & Justin Boening for first giving it a home.
(Everything in the poem is completely true. Especially the tattoo.)