THE POETRY PROJECT NEWSLETTER www.poetryproject.org FEB/MAR 10 #222 LETTERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS ESSAY ULJANA WOLF ON ILSE AICHINGER PROSE ILSE AICHINGER TRANS. ULJANA WOLF & CHRISTIAN HAWKEY BARBARA HENNING INTERVIEWS HARRYETTE MULLEN POEM NATHANIEL OTTING CALENDAR EDMUND BERRIGAN REVIEWS AMANDA NADELBERG, LEWIS FREEDMAN, AARON LOWINGER & JONATHAN SKINNER MARGARITA SHALINA REVIEWS MARJORIE PERLOFF & CRAIG DWORKIN LAURA HINTON REVIEWS EMMA BEE BERNSTEIN & NONA WILLIS ARONOW- ITZ STAN MIR REVIEWS MICHAEL GIZZI JILL MAGI REVIEWS M. NOURBSE PHILIP THOM DONOVAN REVIEWS RACHEL ZOLF $5? 02 FEB/MAR 10 #222 THE POETRY PROJECT NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Corina Copp DISTRIBUTION: Small Press Distribution, 1341 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA 94710 The Poetry Project, Ltd. Staff ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: Stacy Szymaszek PROGRAM COORDINATOR: Corrine Fitzpatrick PROGRAM ASSISTANT: Arlo Quint MONDAY NIGHT COORDINATOR: Dustin Williamson MONDAY NIGHT TALK SERIES COORDINATOR: Arlo Quint WEDNESDAY NIGHT COORDINATOR: Stacy Szymaszek FRIDAY NIGHT COORDINATORS: Nicole Wallace & Edward Hopely SOUND TECHNICIAN: David Vogen BOOKKEEPER: Stephen Rosenthal ARCHIVIST: Will Edmiston BOX OFFICE: Courtney Frederick, Kelly Ginger, Nicole Wallace INTERNS: Sara Akant, Elizabeth Block, Paco Cathcart, Ace McNamara, Alice Whitwham VOLUNTEERS: Jim Behrle, Vanessa Garver, Ivy Johnson, Erica Kaufman, Derek Kroessler, Nicholas Morrow, Christa Quint, Lauren Russell, Thomas Seeley, Logan Strenchock, Erica Wessmann The Poetry Project Newsletter is published four times a year and mailed free of charge to members of and contributors to the Poetry Project. Subscriptions are available for $25/year domestic, $45/year international. Checks should be made payable to The Poetry Project, St. Mark’s Church, 131 East 10th St., NYC, NY 10003. The views and opinions expressed in the Newsletter are those of the individual authors and, while everyone in their right mind might be like, of course, duh!, they are not necessarily those of the Poetry Project itself. For more information call (212) 674-0910, or e-mail [email protected]. BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Greg Fuchs (President), Rosemary Carroll (Treasurer), Kimberly Lyons (Secretary), Todd Colby, Will Creeley, Jordan Davis, Mónica de la Torre, Ted Greenwald, Tim Griffin, John S. Hall, Gillian McCain, Jonathan Morrill, Elinor Nauen, Evelyn Reilly, Christopher Stackhouse, Edwin Torres FRIENDS COMMITTEE: Brooke Alexander, Dianne Benson, Raymond Foye, Michael Friedman, Steve Hamilton, Viki Hudspith, Siri Hustvedt, Yvonne Jacquette, Eileen Myles, Patricia Spears Jones, Michel de Konkoly Thege, Greg Masters, Ron Padgett, Bob Holman, Paul Slovak, Anne Waldman, Hal Willner, John Yau FUNDERS: The Poetry Project’s programs are made possible, in part, with public funds from The National Endowment for the Arts. They are also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. The Poetry Project’s programs are also made possible with funds from the Aeroflex Foundation, the Axe-Houghton Foundation; Brooke Alexander Gallery; Committee on Poetry; Foundation for Contemporary Arts; Studio One; the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund; The Greenwich Collection, Ltd.; Poets & Writers, Inc.; Anonymous Foundations; Propolis Press; Soho Letterpress; Swayspace; Harold & Angela Appel; Vyt Bakaitis; Bill Berkson & Constance Lewallen; David Berrigan & Sarah Locke; Mei Mei Berssenbrugge & Richard Tuttle; Louise Bourgeois; Rosemary Carroll; Todd Colby; Peggy DeCoursey; Don DeLillo & Barbara Bennet; Rackstraw Downes; Ulla Dydo; Ruth Eisenberg; Ann Evans; Stephen Facey; Greg Fuchs & Alison Collins; E. Tracy Grinnell; Phil Hartman; Tony Hoffman; Doris Kornish; Jonathan Lasker; Katy Lederer; John Lewin; Mark McCain; Thurston Moore & Kim Gordon; Jonathan Morrill & Jennifer Firestone; Elinor Nauen & Johnny Stanton; Louis Patler; Jonathan Plutzik; Evelyn Reilly; Katie Schneeman; Simon Schuchat; Nathaniel Siegel; Kiki Smith; Andre Spears & Anne Rosen; Susie Timmons; The Estate of Paul Cummings; The Estate of Kenneth Koch; members of the Poetry Project; and other individual contributors. EDITORS EMERITI: Ron Padgett 1972–1973 / Bill MacKay 1973–1975 / Ted Greenwald 1975–1977 / Frances LeFevre 1977–1978 / Vicki Hudspith 1978–1980 / Greg Masters 1980–1983 / Lorna Smedman 1983–1984 / Tim Dlugos 1984–1985 / James Ruggia 1985–1986 / Jessica Hagedorn 1986–1987 / Tony Towle 1987–1990 / Jerome Sala 1990–1991 / Lynn Crawford 1991–1992 / Jordan Davis 1992–1994 / Gillian McCain 1994–1995 / Mitch Highfill 1995–1996 / Lisa Jarnot 1996–1998 / Brenda Coultas & Eleni Sikelianos 1998–1999 / Katherine Lederer 1999–2000 / Ange Mlinko 2000–2002 / Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan 2002–2003 / Marcella Durand 2003–2005 / Brendan Lorber 2005–2007 / John Coletti 2007–2009 ST. MARKS CHURCH IN-THE-BOWERY Copyright © 2010 Poetry Project 131 EAST 10TH STREET All rights revert to authors upon publication. NEW YORK, NY 10003 THE POETRY PROJECT NEWSLETTER 03 Contents 04 LETTERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS 06 ESSAY A Werldly Country: Ilse Aichinger’s Prose Poems uljana wolf 08 PROSE Bad Words and Hemlin ilse aichinger, trans. uljana wolf & christian hawkey 11 INTERVIEW A Conversation with Harryette Mullen barbara henning 16 POEM from The Wrong Book nathaniel otting 20 CALENDAR 23 BOOK REVIEWS edmund berrigan / chapbook roundup margarita shalina / marjorie perloff & craig dworkin laura hinton / emma bee bernstein & nona willis aronowitz ON THE COVER: “Shelftop Fort” stan mir / michael gizzi by Stacie Johnson. jill magi / m. nourbse philip Stacie Johnson is a painter liv- thom donovan / rachel zolf ing in Brooklyn. More information on her work can be found at www.staciemayajohnson.com. 04 FEB/MAR 10 #222 LETTERS & ANNOUNCEMENTS Out of this world Volunteers: Bob Rosenthal, Don Yorty, Douglas Rothschild, Betsy Block, Nick Morrow, Sue Landers, Natasha Dwyer, Christa Quint, Joe Elliot, Diana Hamilton, Eddie Hopely, Elinor Nauen, Will 1. from the director Creeley, Mina Pam Dick, David Kirschenbaum, Ian Wilder, Kim Wilder, Gary Sullivan, Nada Gordon, Joanna Fuhrman, Donna I began the week leading up to the 36th Annual New Year’s Day Brook, Tom Savage, Jennifer Keane, Vincent Keane, Van Zimmer- Marathon Reading feeling nonchalant and feeling worried about man, Kendra Sullivan, Simone White, Barry Denny, Paolo Javier, how nonchalant I felt, but after we got through the first few Greg Fuchs, Jacob Burckhardt, CAConrad, Laura Elrick, Evelyn organizational hiccups, I realized the uncomfortable feeling was Reilly, Adeena Karasick, Safia Karasick Southey, Sophie Prevallet, that of confidence. I knew this year was going to be extraordinary Phyllis Wat, Gail Tuch, Stephanie Gray, Michael Scharf, Bill Kush- and indeed it was. The performances were electric (Miguel Guti- ner, Steve Rosenthal, Patricia Spears Jones, Ed Friedman, John errez’s dance harnessed the off-the wall energy of the day) and S. Hall, Edwin Torres, Erica Kaufman, Paul Foster Johnson, Ana the community response was enormous. I have never seen the Božicević, Amy King, Geoffrey Olsen, Kimberly Lyons, Lo Gallucio, Sanctuary so thronged with people. As the great poet Sparrow Akilah Oliver, Laura Jaramillo, Dixie Appel, Lauren Russell, Nicole wrote to us the next day, “The new was new, and so was every- Wallace, Thomas Seeley, Will Edmiston, Jim Behrle, Todd Colby, thing else.” And, wow, we raised over $18,000 this year, which Gillian McCain, Kelly Ginger, Nathaniel Siegel, Jeffrey Perkins, Eddie is about $5,000 more than the customary amount. These funds, Berrigan, Kathleen Connell, Corina Copp, Brett Price, Evan Com- as you know, allow us to pay the rent, continue our programming mander, Chris Martin, Dee Dee Thompson, Jeremy Hoevenaar, and plan for the Project’s future. Thank you for every dollar you Alice Whitwham, John Coletti, KB Jones, Mariana Ruiz Firmat, spent on admission, food, books or Membership that day. Derek Kroessler, Douglas Piccinnini, Erica Wessmann, Ivy John- son, Dustin Williamson, Kari Hensley, Lisa Ozag, Geoff Mottran, I made some opening remarks that invoked words written by Brenda Iijima, Rachel Levitsky, Nic Veroli, Frank Sherlock, Nicole Allen Ginsberg in his introduction to Out of This World about St. Peyrafitte, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, Pierre Joris, Robert O’Haire, Mark’s being a culture church and a place where many people Lakyrkhumal Sylem and whomever else I may have forgotten! have been coming for decades to tap into the great accumula- tion of granny wisdom about poetry, familiarity and gossip. Ah, Books: Wave Books, Meritage Press, Nightboat Books, Boot- the true meaning of New Year’s Day! We hope that 2010 holds strap Books, Ugly Ducking Presse, Libellum, BlazeVox Books, much promise for each of us and for the state of the world. We Belladonna Books, Futurepoem, Karl Gartung, George Albon, appreciate your devotion to our celebration and thank you, again, Ted Greenwald, Giovanna Frene, Federica Marte, Tracey Mc- for being part of the Poetry Project. Tague & Brendan Lorber, Larry Kearney, Narrow House, Gina Myers, Richard Hell, Rachel Zolf, Ryan Murphy, Natalie Lyalin, Z poważaniem, Matthew Thorburn, Susan Mills, Pierre Joris, Nicole Peyrafitte, Anselm Berrigan, Amanda Deutch, Simon Pettet, and day-of Stacy Szymaszek donors! Food & Services: Amy’s Bread, Momofuku/Milk Bar, Porto 2. from the program coordinator Rico Importing Company, Grand Daisy Bakery, Magnolia Bakery, S’Mac,