33 Poems

by Robert Lax

The American poet Robert Lax belongs to the generation of Thomas Merton, Beat poetry, Abstract Expressionism, and the compositions of John Cage. Yet he stands out as this era’s most intriguing minimalist poet, gaining this reputation through a constant questioning of the universe and our idea about it. His poetry varies from fables and parables to clear-cut columns of words, from his account of a day at the circus as a vision of creation to his own insistent and mystical search for truth. 33 Poems presents the quintessential gathering of Lax’s work, including Sea Sky and The Circus of the Sun , “perhaps the greatest English-language poem of this century” ( The New York Times ).

Genres: Poetry

203 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1988

About the author

Robert Lax (30 November, 1915 in Olean, New York – 26 September, 2000 in Olean) was an American poet, known in particular for his association with Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton. Another friend of his youth was the painter Ad Reinhardt. After a long period of drifting from job to job about the world, Lax settled on the island of Patmos during the latter part of his life. Considered by some to be a self-exiled hermit, he nonetheless welcomed visitors to his home, but did nothing to court publicity or expand his literary career or reputation.

Reviews

[Richard]

I've decided to read more poetry. Robert Lax wrote hundreds of poems in his lifetime and was published in some big mags, but ended up more as a poet's poet. He was a college professor, a circus performer, a screenwriter, and an editor at the New Yorker. In 1962, he moved to the Greek islands (because, he said, it was important to "put yourself in a place where Grace can flow") and lived there for four decades, until he died in 2000 at the age of 84. Jack Kerouac called him "one of the great original voices of out times -- a pilgrim in search of beautiful innocence." This collection includes his most famous work, a fairly conventional long poem (or collection of poems) called "The Circus of the Sun," which was fine, but what really grabbed me were the minimalist poems that followed, inspired by abstract painting. They consist of just two or three phrases (or even words) repeated over and over in different permutations and wind up become mantras of a sort. I was astonished at the landscapes and emotions he was able to conjure with so few words, and I'll carry the wonder these poems inspired in me forever. Maximum minimalist magic. The links below are to a few of his poems and to a film about him, in which he reads some of his work, allowing you to hear how it's supposed to sound. He once recommended that someone who was confused by his work should read them aloud, and that's excellent advice.
https://www.thing.net/~grist/ld/koppa...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTq-l...

[Tuesday]

BIG FLOWERS BIG FLOWERS BIG FLOWERS

I'd never heard of Robert Lax before, picked this up from the library on a whim, wanted something to breeze through in one afternoon, was seduced by the Beckett endorsement on the front cover. Kudos to Thomas Kellein, the editor of this collection, for beginning with "The Man With The Big General Notions," because those last two lines ("Some house. Some man.") made me swoon and march forth with smile on my face. That tone instantly put me in the mind of the work of Anne Carson. The "Circus" poems and prose-poems are full of such vivid imagery that I kept receiving flashes with each line, the characters were so interesting, there was such a variety of forms used, at times it reminded me of Ovid's "Metamorphoses." The real stand-out here is the long-poem "Sea Sky," which might just be my favourite poem of all time: I started reading it aloud, tapping my feet to the rhythm, I feel like it would make a really good performance piece, I entered a trance state; since this section is so strong, so perfect even, some of the poems which follow it, and are similar, are not as effective, and the longer-lined poems were harder to get into. He does interesting things with brackets, which function like an off-stage whisper, and with dropping and adding the letter -s, which makes you pay close attention. "Able Charlie Baker Dance," "A Problem in Design," and "Tiger" are revelations! The final poem: "21 Pages" is a kind of autobiography in the register of Gertrude Stein and I thought it was lovely, reaches a moment of transcendence. I've never read a compendium like this before, I felt like it was a pivotal reading encounter, I am grate-
ful

that it
exists

grateful
that it
exists

grateful
that it
ex-
ists

[David Doel]

It's impossible for me to provide an overall impression of this work. So I record a few impressions as I read along.

Today I read "Acrobat's Song" and "Penelope and Mogador." Both describe a circus and both somehow convey the feeling of actually being at the circus as a child!

A good deal of this work seems experimental -- trying things for the sake of trying them. Some work: try "A problem in design" and "The angel and the little old lady" for examples that worked well for me.

The last entry, "21 pages" is perhaps the most intriguing. I think it's not prayer, but it reminds me of prayer. Is the person searched for God? Are there periods of distraction during the prayer/search? Was I distracted while reading it? (yes)

I will keep this and hope I read it again.

[Cellophane Renaissance]

A PROBLEM IN DESIGN


what if
you like
to draw
big flowers,

but what
if some
sage has
told you
that
there is
nothing
more
beautiful

nothing
more
beautiful

than a
straight
line
?

what should
you draw:
big flowers?
straight lines?

i think
you should
draw

big flowers
big flowers

big flowers
big flowers

big flowers
big flowers

big flowers
big flowers

until
they become
a straight
line.

[Anthony]

Lax is a poet of immensities (the sky, the sea) and intensities. He watches and waits, waits and watches, training his eye on what some would call nothingness. But for Lax there is something. The temporality of his poetry is slowed down, stretching into the temporality of the sky on a quiet cloudless windless day, inviting active contemplation where belief is love and love belief. I think of Morton Feldmans music or Lax’s friend Ad Reinhardt’s painting.

[Cooper Renner]

A lot of great minimal poems here, but I’m not a fan of his more traditional work like Circus of the Sun or 21 Pages (which I didn’t finish).

[Wesley Harden]

One word; Duende.

[Peter Prokopiev]

I’m not over enthusiastic about this but the joy and the love of life that shine on some pages are contagious. If there is on high point in this book it is definitely “Sky and sea”, but I enjoyed his parables too.