From Scratch

by Clayton Eshleman

“Eshleman's work is a dazzling attempt to restore man's capacity to understand nature as divine, demonic, and human." ―Kenneth Warren, American Book Review Eshleman’s is a highly individual poetry, yet one that demonstrates how each of us belongs, not just to our self, but also to those numberless selves who’ve gone before and to the collective human consciousness that underlies all our thoughts. Here are hymns of praise for the great image-makers of the late Ice Age and to their modern descendants; here too are tributes to the master-spirits of the poet’s inner life. From Scratch is a suite of poems, each exploring a station on one poet’s way toward self-creation.

Genres: Poetry

190 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

Eshleman is an American poet, translator, and editor.

Eshleman has been translating since the early 1960s. He and José Rubia Barcia jointly prepared The Complete Posthumous Poetry of César Vallejo (1978) and won the U.S. National Book Awardin category Translation. He has also translated books by Aimé Césaire (with Annette Smith), Pablo Neruda, Antonin Artaud, Vladimir Holan, Michel Deguy and Bernard Bador.

Eshleman founded and edited two of the most seminal and highly-regarded literary magazines of the period, Caterpillar and Sulfur.

Sometimes he is mentioned in the company of the "ethno-poeticists" associated with Jerome Rothenberg, including: Armand Schwerner, Rochelle Owens, Kenneth Irby, Robert Kelly, Jed Rasula, Gustaf Sobin, and John Taggart. He is now Professor Emeritus at Eastern Michigan University.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up as a used copy because it was really great flipping through...I really like Black Sparrow Press, as well...

I've also added his book of essays, although I haven't found a copy of it yet. I'm looking forward to becoming familiar with Eshleman's work.