Synopsis
Poetry. In DISTANCE, Stephen Ratcliffe has written a series of one hundred long-lined poems using words and phrases drawn from the language of literature, science, etymology, history, geology, geography, art, as well as everyday life. Originally composed as daily "entries" during the course of a hundred consecutive days, these poems discover how suddenly the syntax of the everyday world becomes exotic, and how much subjectivity comes to inform the objective, only apparently haphazard schemes of word and world: "Even the simplest sentence, for example, throwing stones, one time devoted to one subject as if to be by a book on a table, a hat on a hook." Distance here represents the space between language and world across which attention projects the range of its precarious and constantly shifting dynamics--a space in which, as Clark Coolidge writes, "each paragraph just keeps going farther OUT, wild." The abstraction of its surfaces as fluidly textured as a canvas by de Kooning, this writing bring us to the point where thought and perception first enters a language which makes them real: "sometimes rosey, the broad flat tints of ink are parked between two celestial spheres."
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About the Author
Stephen Ratcliffe is a poet and critic whose most recent book is REAL, a 474-page book of poems written in 474 consecutive days (Avenue B, 2007). Previous books include PORTRAITS & REPETITION (The Post-Apollo Press, 2002) and SOUND/(SYSTEM) (Green Integer, 2002). LISTENING TO READING, a collection of essays on contemporary experimental poetry, was published by SUNY Press in 2000. He is also the author of Campion: On Song (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981). He lives in Bolinas, California, and teaches at Mills College in Oakland.
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Search results for Distance
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Distance
Seller: Treehorn Books, Santa Rosa, CA, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Softcover. Condition: Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Inscribed and initialed by author; 8.25 X 5.50 X 0.40 inches; 112 pages. Seller Inventory # 6567
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Distance
Seller: Chaparral Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Fair. Please see our photos. Softbound book showing medium wear to wraps and a definite crush dogear to rear top leading corner. Spine uncreased, pages clean. This copy is one of an edition of 600, 26 of which were lettered and signed by the author; this is letter "C". Also inscribed on half title page to "Nick"(?) and "Lynn - in the near distance love Stephen 10-20-86". Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # CHAPratDIS
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Distance [Inscribed to Clark Coolidge with an Autograph Note Signed]
Published by
Avenue B., (Bolinas, California), 1986
ISBN 10: 0939691000
ISBN 13: 9780939691005
Used
Softcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Softcover. Condition: Fine. First edition. Fine in glossy wrappers. Inscribed to Language poet Clark Coolidge on the title page: "For Clark, .in the near distance. Steve 10.15.86." One of 600 copies printed. With an Autograph Note Signed from Ratcliffe to Coolidge laid in, sending the book along and asking if Coolidge has any manuscripts available for the Avenue B imprint. A nice association. Seller Inventory # 520214