Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror 2 by Paul Legault

by Paul Legault

In 1975 John Ashbery published Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror and the book won the three major American prizes—the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Now it has won an oppositional-compliant ardent admirer in Paul Legault, who relates directly and dreamily to each poem, from memory, face en face. The relationship is complicated. From "As One Put Drunk into the Packet-Boat 2": I tried the immortal things—some of them were free.The glass in front of us stopped usAt least for a while, waiting for the light to do its siftThrough the previously unwaded-through seasonLike someone named Autumn, walking around In autumn. The dispatcher mimics the dispatchSimultaneously to its arrival. The controlled environmentBecame compromised by a Circean power. We decidedWho'd come in. I wasn't going anywhere,Me having filled my white pockets;But if you'd mentioned the time, I would've suggestedWe rise to the occasions. Things weren't necessarily lost,But that, like whether we could feed the entire company,Depended on where you stood—and in what structure. Paul Legault was born in Ontario and raised in Tennessee. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Virginia and a BFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California. Legault is the co-founder of the translation press Telephone Books and the author of three books of poetry. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and serves as a writer-in-residence at Washington University.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published November 10, 2015