Representative Works: 1938-1985

by Jackson Mac Low

Poetry. Jackson Mac Low's REPRESENTATIVE 1938-1985 is a compilation that follows the work of American experimentalism through one of its strongest arrangers. Mac Low, a proponent of "systems of chance," treated chance and choice as equal-handed characters in the making of poetry. Despite his intentional steering toward randomness, Mac Low's poetry "always has a remarkable compassion and humor...just as there are ways of jumping off or in or on."—Robert Creeley

Mac Low writes attentively and "his poetry, even though it looks like it, is poetry."—John Cage

Genres: Poetry

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of many favorite books by Jackson MacLow. Roof Books did this particular selection, which deftly presents the many different kinds of poems MacLow produced. There are some Light Poems, some parts of The Presidents of the USA series, some Asymmetries, Stanzas for Iris, and some Odes for Iris (heartbreakingly beautiful love poems, written "normally," whatever that means). Lots of great work is in this book, and it makes a great starting point when beginning to read him. There are all kinds of techniques that went into these works, and it would take a book at least as thick as this one to adequately discuss them all. Jackson gives it his best shot, though, with lengthy descriptions of their composition methods. Wonderful book, especially when read next to the Granary book, Doings. Stunning achievement here. Makes me miss him just to think about it.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Doings and Thing of Beauty on the market, Representative Works may be sadly outdated, but it's still a tidy precis of Mac Low's jolt to the English, whose beauties outshine, always, the compositional techniques that frame them. Mac Low's feeling for experiment and joy in sound still seem ahead of the Ahead, a testament to the truth and warmth in squelch.

[John Witte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply one of the most playful, democratic, and pleasurable poets that ever lived. This collection does an awesome job of making some sense of Mac Low's strange, wide, and eclectic catalog--while highlighting the nuances of his particularly strange practice.

[Stacy Kidd · Rating 5 out of 5]

great.