Marek naja Marek

Denise Levertov Oral History

2012-02-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

The inaugural Woodberry Poetry Room (Harvard) Oral History Initiative was a conversation among panelist Mark Pawlak (me), Dick Lourie, and Donna Hollenberg. The focus was the period that Denise Levertov lived and taught in the Boston area (1969 through the late 1980s). I studied with Levertov at MIT. Afterward she became my friend and poetry mentor. Dick Louris was in her first poetry workshop in New York in 1965. Donna Hollenberg knew Levertov while a graduate student at Tufts University in the mid-70s. Donna's official biography of Levertov (the first) will be published by University of california Press in 2013. The audio recording of the oral history, which included comments from many members of the audience, who also knew Levertov in Boston, can be found at:

http://hcl.harvard.edu/poetryroom/vocarium/#ohi

Hanging Loose at UMass Boston

2012-02-14T08:14:00.001-08:00

The Breakwater Review has just published an interview conducted by Peter Picetti with Hanging Loose editors Dick Louri and Mark Pawlak (me), in which we discuss the long, twined history of Hanging Loose magazine and UMass Boston. Along the way we have a lot to say about contemporary American poetry.

You can find the interview at:

http://www.breakwaterreview.com/6/hanging-loose/

Poetry and Mathematics

2012-02-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Whenever someone learns that I'm a poet who teaches mathematics -- to "support my poetry habit", as I like to say -- I always get a quizzical look, then, after a moments thought the person usually says, "Well it kind of makes sense. There is a mathematical element to poetry."

Here's an excerpt from my memoir about Denise Levertov which talks about this mre directly:

http://www.ilrmagazine.net/dsound/issue20_ds2.php

More on google Settlement

2009-08-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

OPEN BOOK ALLIANCE

Authored by:

Peter Brantley & Gary Reback

One of the most significant developments in the history of publishing could be co-opted by the settlement of a class action lawsuit that creates an unprecedented monopoly and price fixing cartel. Just as Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press more than 700 years ago ushered in a new era of knowledge sharing, the mass digitization of books promises to revolutionize how we read and discover books. But a digital library controlled by a single company and small group of publishers would inevitably lead to higher prices and subpar service for consumers, libraries, scholars, and students.

A proposed settlement to a class action lawsuit settlement among Google, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Authors’ Guild threatens to monopolize the access to and distribution and pricing of the largest digital database of books in the world, cornering much of the value of book digitization and reserving it to the private parties that have negotiated what is essentially both a new policy and a business model governing access to this material without input from appropriate government officials or the public. This is unacceptable.

Unlike the proposed settlement, there are proper, fair ways to make the promised digital future for books a reality. Today, we are launching the Open Book Alliance to insist that any mass book digitization and distribution effort be open and competitive. It must be undertaken in the open, grounded in sound public policy, and mindful of the need to promote long-term benefits for consumers rather than isolated commercial interests.

A wide range of professional, academic, and corporate organizations have significant concerns about the settlement proposal. True, we all fundamentally support the effort to expand the availability of knowledge through the digitization of books. But the proposed settlement, in substance and process, is not the way to do it.

By bringing together diverse organizations such as Amazon, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, the New York Library Association, Small Press Distribution, the Special Libraries Association, and Yahoo!, the Open Book Alliance will counter the special deal the proposed settlement creates for Google and the parties that have agreed to its proposed settlement, and will promote fair and flexible solutions aimed at achieving a more robust and open system.

Many startling challenges to copyright and competition policy lie buried in the settlement’s 300+-pages. The Open Book Alliance will inform policymakers and the public about the serious legal, competitive, and policy issues in the settlement proposal, including:

The settlement is bad for consumers and book-lovers – It deliberately thwarts competition in the emerging e-books market, creating a digital book monopoly that will inevitably lead to fewer choices and higher prices for consumers of digital books. It would allow a group of erstwhile competitors to collectively set prices and leave Google as the only company with a the right to copy, display or sell digital versions of orphan works (books for which authors or rights holders cannot be identified or located). Consumers would be better served by a competitive market for digital books that is available to everyone on non-discriminatory terms. The settlement also contains no privacy commitments to ensure that Google doesn’t use its awareness of what books people are reading to make unfair profit, or doesn’t share its intimate knowledge with commercial interests or governments. Finally, the settlement is carefully structured to ensure that all of the digital content will be available to Google and Google's search engine. This will enhance and reinforce Google's already dominant market power in the internet search market while making the digital books less available and less findable by users of other search engines.

The settlement is bad for libraries and schools: While a handful of large and well-funded university libraries participated in the Google book-scanning effort, many other educational institutions and libraries will be forced to pay monopoly prices for access to a wide swath of knowledge, straining already-stretched budgets and creating a system of haves and have-nots in our nation’s education system. Community libraries would get at a single terminal to Google’s private book database, and libraries serving our nation’s children in K-12 schools would get absolutely nothing. The settlement widens the digital divide by limiting access to digital books in financially hard-hit communities that have budget-constrained libraries.

The settlement is bad for authors and small publishers: Unless they act to opt out of the proposed settlement by Google’s deadline, authors and other writers lose rights to the fruits of their labor—a future in which they have no negotiating rights for the value of their work. Moreover, the proposed settlement would line the pockets of a handful of lawyers, who collectively would receive more than $45 million, at the expense of millions of authors and small publishers upon whose creativity and hard work the private book monopoly would be built.

The settlement sets a dangerous and unprecedented process precedent. The proposed settlement far exceeds the bounds of a typical legal settlement. It privatizes important copyright and public policy decisions. It abuses class action procedure to create an exclusive joint venture between Google, AAP and the Authors’ Guild, strengthening Google’s dominance in search and search advertising and creating a private monopoly for the sale of digitized books.

If you are interested in joining the Open Book Alliance or if you are interested in receiving regular updates on this important issue, contact us through our Web site. And stay tuned to this space for more information as the Open Book Alliance fights to make the promise of digital books a reality that benefits all, not just a select few.

Google Book Search settlement

2009-08-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

Media/Blogger Contact:

openbookalliancepress@yahoo.com

DIVERSE COALITION UNITES TO COUNTER

GOOGLE BOOK SETTLEMENT

Library Scholar Peter Brantley and Antitrust Expert Gary Reback Spearhead Open Book Alliance to Protect Consumers and Competition in the Emerging Digital Book Market

SAN FRANCISCO, August 26, 2009 – Librarians, legal scholars, authors, publishers, and technology companies today announced the formation of a coalition that will counter the proposed Google Book Settlement in its current form. The proposed settlement is between Google, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Authors’ Guild. Approval of the settlement plan currently is pending before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The deal is also currently being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department on antitrust grounds.

“Just as Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press more than 700 years ago ushered in a new era of knowledge sharing, the mass digitization of books promises to once again revolutionize how we read and discover books,” said Open Book Alliance co-chairs Peter Brantley and Gary Reback in a blog post at http://www.openbookalliance.org. “But a digital library controlled by a single company and small group of colluding publishers would inevitably lead to higher prices and subpar service for consumers, libraries, scholars, and students.”

“The public interest demands that any mass book digitization and distribution effort be undertaken in the open, grounded in sound public policy, and mindful of the need to promote long-term benefits for consumers rather than those of a few commercial interests,” continued Brantley and Reback.

Brantley is a director of the non-profit Internet Archive and Reback is a noted antitrust attorney who serves of counsel at the firm Carr & Ferrell, LLP.

Members of the Open Book Alliance include:

· Amazon (amazon.com)

· American Society of Journalists and Authors (asja.org)

· Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (clmp.org)

· Internet Archive (archive.org)

· Microsoft (microsoft.com)

· New York Library Association (nyla.org)

· Small Press Distribution (spdbooks.org)

· Special Libraries Association (sla.org)

· Yahoo! (yahoo.com)

The Alliance will work to inform policymakers and the public about the serious legal, competitive, and policy issues in the settlement proposal.

In 2005, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors’ Guild filed suit against Google, objecting to the company’s mass digitization of millions of books on copyright violation grounds. The parties privately settled for $125 million and devised a scheme that would permit Google to charge libraries and consumers for access to the digitized books. Under the deal, Google, the Authors Guild and the AAP would gain significant new powers to control the fledgling market for digital books.

The New York court considering the settlement has established a Sept. 4 deadline for submissions on the settlement and indicated it planned to make a final decision on Oct. 7.

Following are quotes from some members of the Open Book Alliance on their concerns about the proposed settlement:

“The library community in New York is concerned by the ramifications of this settlement on libraries, their patrons and the common good. Access, affordability and patron privacy issues are key concerns of ours that we do not believe have been adequately addressed so far. A public policy issue of this magnitude should be not be handled in this matter, but by Congress in a deliberative and open format that allows for greater input from concerned parties and the public.” -- Michael J. Borges, Executive Director of the New York Library Association.

“We look forward to the day when a completely electronic, searchable, and universally accessible repository of digital books brings untold value and knowledge to individuals, organizations and libraries. In the meantime, we are greatly concerned about Google’s efforts here, and we believe that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) must look into the full ramifications of this settlement on issues of copyright, access, affordability and privacy.” – Janice R. Lachance, CEO, Special Libraries Association.

“We're seeing Google the Good morph into Google the Grabby in all of this. First, Google dangles the prospect of a huge, accessible, digital library in front of us. But then it shows utter contempt for the people who wrote the books, by scanning them without the approval of copyright holders. Google didn't mind stomping on authors to get this project going. If the settlement goes through as it stands, sheer marketplace domination will mean every author will have to swallow the rules set down by a cabal of a registry board or sell no digital books or future, new digital inventions.” – Salley Shannon, President, American Society of Journalists and Authors.

The Open Book Alliance will add its voice and those of its members, to other organizations and noted individuals who have publically expressed concerns about the settlement

The Open Book Alliance can be found online at http://www.openbookalliance.org, and on Twitter @OBAlliance.

# # #

Keith Wilson 1927-2009

2009-02-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

Another sad entry in the roster of deaths this gloomy season: Keith Wilson died Tuesday in Las Cruces at age 81. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (class of 1950), he wrote moving, perceptive poems about the Korean war, in which he served 4 tours of duty. He was the best poet to come out of that conflict. I first read his Graves Registry & Other Poems (Grove 1969) in the early seventies, followed by Midwatch (Sumac, 1972). Graves Registry was his major work and he added further sections to in in later decades, parts VI-VIII. The complete volume, published in 1992 was nominated for the National Book Award. Keith grew up and lived most of his professional life in the southwest, teaching at the University of New Mexico, Las Cruces. He was named that city's first poet laureate. His poems about the arid southwestern landscape, which he loved, and its Indian, Mexican, Anglo mix of peoples show a poet of the eye more than the ear. He published dozens of books. Heloise, his wife says his collected poems is ready for print and will be published by Clark City Press. It's purportedly 1000 pages in length.

I was first introduced to Keith by Denise Levertov in about 1975 when he read his work at Tufts. I saw him several more times in subsequent decades whenever he came east to read his work. The last time was about 10 years ago at UMass Boston, where I teach. My other connection to Keith was through Hanging Loose. His poems first appeared in issue #5/6 in 1968, and then in several subsequent issue spread out over many years. My Hanging Loose co-editor Ron Schreiber included Keith's work in 31 New American Poets (Hill and Wang, 1969) the anthology he edited. Keith's mother-in-law, poet Besmilr Brigham, was also included in Ron's anthology and was also a HL contributor over a span of about 25 years.

Here is a sample of Keith Wilson's poetry from "Graves Registry" that appeared in 31 New American Poets:

the singer

who did sing, whose voice

spoke out of a guitar's darkness;

in a clear young night he

sang midwatches away, telling

of country lands, of growing crops

green corn, tall in the fields

of Kentucky; dark songs of love,

concerns and ancient questions

he had not yet lived to confirm

or deny.

17. About 6'1". Heavyset,

with plowman's hands & walk.

Then there was my gun.

In its way, it sang too. Clean machine

oiled & perfect, the slide flashed

back over my relaxed hand pow. pow. pow.

& .45 wadcutter slugs crimped neat holes

in the fluttering paper; the gun

was a happiness to my hand.

Many nights that boy was the whole

watch as I would lean against the flying

bridge, coffee growing cold in my cup,

listening to that voice sing out

the darkness ahead.

Then came the time in port. Just before

the invasion. The gunner mates were

cleaning all weapons for the coming action &

claimed mine too.

I was on the bridge

checking the charts. An indistinct

popping sound. Silence.

Running feet, & shouts.

When I got back to the fantail

he was lying there, his boy's face

twisted & grey, big farmer's hands

held in his guts, guitar beside him.

My gun in the destroyed mate's hand.

Smoking faintly.

These are the things get lost.

Guitars. Guns. hands to hold

onto them.

And here is a New Mexico poem that appeared in Hanging Loose #5/6 (1968):

The Prayer

...to speak of violence at a time like this

when my lips would sing

siempre tiene bienvenidos

en esta casa, Nuestro Senor

finding now, in this

aging darkness, the twin selves

playing like children against

the light, the light!

almost I did not see

beyond the circle of darkness

which is its limit

where once I walked talking

of guns, bright edges

the smaller victories of the wind

and all the time

Nuestro Senor

there was this song

all about me

it had only to open

my mouth to sing.

Glover Circle Notebook entry

2009-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm continuing to transcribe my journal of visits to Denise Levertov circa 1975-76. The following is undated from sometime in fall '75:

"I looked in on 4 Glover Circle today as D. had asked me to do while she is out of town on a brief teaching gig. All was well, but I noticed something familiar was missing from her study. I couldn't at first recall what it was though. On the bookstand that sits just inside the doorway, I realized that there was an empty place next to the framed photo of Doc Williams, seated in an armchair in some living room, perhaps his own, dressed in a white shirt, vest and tie. Everything else was in order. The portraits of Keats on top of the adjacent roll-top desk, the woodblock print in blue ink of William Morris's bearded face thumb-tacked to the wall just above the shelf.... Then I remembered there was a second photo of W.C. Williams, the same sized, framed. In the first one, W.C.W. is seated, staring back at the camera, his hands clapped together in applause or for emphasis in conversations. The missing one is a picture of Doc Williams in shirt-sleaves, rounding the corner of a shrub, striding across the manicured lawn of some college campus, the college chapel just behind him and to the left. "That photo was taken after he had had his first stroke," Denise said over my shoulder the first time I viewed it. "And just look at the vitality still in his step!" She had added, "It's that kind of energy that allowed him to practice two very demanding professions. " I wonder why she took it down from the shelf.

2008-12-31T10:22:00.001-08:00

Last year this time I had the opportunity to read my work at the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C at the awards ceremony of the annual Polish American Historical Association (PAHA) meeting. This year's PAHA meeting takes place in Manhattan. Hanging Loose book authors Sharon Mesmer and Bill Zavatsky, plus long-time HL magazine contributor Stephen Lewandowski, are among the Polish American poets reading on January 2nd.

2008-12-28T11:18:00.000-08:00

The current issue (#36) 0f the Australian literary magazine Jacket features a Denise Levertov festschrift. My contribution is a selection from a journal I kept of my frequent visits to and conversations with Levertov, circa 1975-76, when I lived a short walk from her home/office on Glover Circle, Davis Square, Somerville

Remembering Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel

2008-12-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, the great poet of the Okie/Dustbowl migration, who died April 2007, would have turned 90 on December 22nd of this year. I published an "editor's appreciation" of her in the Dos Passos Review last summer in the hopes of gaining her poems a wider readership, but, alas, that journal appears to have virtually no circulation and is not available via a link on the Internet.