Projects
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As I look back on my website and blog, launched in August 2021, I cannot improve on my statement in the first blogpost, “Strange Arts and Visual Delights / Kunst- und Wunderkammer":
“I hope [the blogposts] will be various and curious, touching on any topics that interest me at a given moment, including poetry, regional and family history, politics, culture. I hope to be an observer of the passing (and many passed) scenes, good natured by preference but acidic when called for. You may disagree with me, but friends are those we love and respect, not those we agree with.” My Translations and Poems • French Poems by Rilke: “’Mensonge II' (Lie II),” “Rilke’s Beetles,” “Rilke’s Cornucopia,” “Rilke’s Beau Papillon,” “Rilke's 'le noyer' (walnut tree),” “Four Versions of Rilke’s Rose (XXI),” |
• World War I poems of Henry-Jacques: “Nocturne,” “Landscapes,” "Henry-Jacques, 'Assassin Poet,'" “Complaint”
• Other French poets: "Hercules and the Nemean Lion: A Poem by José de al Heredia"
• Poets of other languages: “Mihai Eminescu—Sonnet 1"
• My poem, “We Lay Our Burdens on Time.” Many other poems may be accessed on the Poetry tab of my website.
Poems and Memories of World War I
• “Remembering the Great War”—with poems by Akhmatova ("In Memoriam, July 19, 1914") and George Trakl (“On the Eastern Front”) and excerpts from the diaries of two children, Piete Kuhr and Yves Congar, and summaries from the diary and notebook of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
• "Remembering the Great War—1915"— with poems by the scholar H .W. Garrod (“Epitaph: Neuve Chapelle,” modeled on the Greek Anthology); a marching song by a platoon poet, Bill Bright; Patrick Shaw-Stewart, a British officer in the Gallipoli campaign (“I saw a man this morning”); Rudyard Kipling (“The Children”); and Thomas Hardy (his well-known Christmas poem, “The Oxen”). The post also includes excerpts from the diaries of Vasily Mishnin (a Russian soldier), Piete Kuhr (a Prussian schoolgirl), Helena Seifertóv Jabłońska (an Austrian widow trapped in a fortress city besieged by the Russians), Mehmed Fasih (a Turkish officer fighting opposite Shaw-Stewart), and an unknown Austrian officer fighting in the Alps.
• "Remembering the Great War—1916"—includes epitaphs on gravestones in the many cemeteries on the Gallipoli peninsula; poems by Edward Thomas ("February Afternoon"), Rose Macaulay ("Spreading Manure"), Isaac Rosenberg ("Returning, We Hear the Larks" and "August 1914"); and a diary entry by a Russian POW in a German camp dying of hunger and exposure.
• "Remembering the Great War—1917"—includes poems by Edward Thomas, who was killed in April ("A Private"); E.A. Mackintosh, a British officer on the Western Front ("In Memoriam"); a jingle by Italian soldiers mocking their leaders; and a poem by me (“Days of 1917”). The post also includes an excerpt from the diary of Douglas Lyall Grant, a British POW in a German prison camp.
• "Remembering the Great War—Days of 1918"—includes an extraordinary excerpt from the diary of Piete Kuhr, describing a playacted funeral for a dead pilot; and poems by Wilfred Owen, who was killed shortly before the Armistice ("Strange Meeting") and Siegfried Sassoon ("Everyone Sang," on the joy of being liberated from the war).
Greek Anthology and Other Classical Poetry
My “translations” are verse renderings based on one or more English prose versions.
• “Greek Anthology—Five Poems”—Poems are by Paulus Silentiarius (AD 575-580), Macdeonius the Consul (Ad 500-560), Pancrates (ca AD 140), Leontichus (3rd century BC), Diodorus of Sardis (dates unknown).
• “The Old Fisherman,” by Julianus the Egyptian
• “Cicada,” by unknown author
• Three posts on Horace’s ode on Cleopatra (37th ode of the first book): “Horace’s Ode on Cleopatra”; "Horace's Ode on Cleopatra--Commentary and David Ferry's Translation"; "Horace's Ode on Cleopatra--Ellen Bryant Voigt's Translation."
Appreciations of Contemporary Writing
Blog posts
• "Brillig—a new, handmade poetry journal from Deborah Doolittle"
• “Nikolai Kantchev, 20th Century Bulgarian Poet”
• "Ethan Unklesbay, 'Dust'" - a 2023 chapbook
Three posts on Joanie McLean’s Every Single Thing:
• Part 1
• “Part 2: Personification”
• "Part 3: Absence and Loss"
Memoir (edited and published by me):
• "How I Lived Through & Survived Brutality," by Leland Travis
Published reviews
• "Earthen Lavers: Review of Tyler Chadwick, Litany with WIngs; Scott Hales, Hemingway in Paradise and Other Poems; and Elizabeth Pinborough, The Brain's Lectionary: Psalms and Observations," Dialogue (56:1, Spring 2023)
• "Moving Bodies, Healing Places: Review of Joseph Bathanti, Light at the Seam, and Joseph Mills, Bodies in Motion," North Carolina Literary Review (online), Fall 2023
Winston-Salem, NC, history (1): An abused woman, Ida Beard, writes to vindicate her life and support her children.
Blogposts
• “My Own Life”
My editions of Ida Beard’s works:
• My Own Life, or A Deserted Wife, edited and annotated edition
• Love Letters of a Mississippi Lawyer (Annotated): An Annotated Edition of The Mississippi Lawyer or Was It All a Dream by Ida Crumpler Beard
Winston-Salem, NC, history (2): A group biography of the African American community in the late 19th century as it develops and tries to resist white supremacy.The starting point is the effort of many African Americans in August 1895 to prevent the lynching of Arthur Tuttle. The names of almost fifty defenders are known; these fifty provide the beginning place for my studies; understanding more about them is the goal—who they were, where they came from, their friends and family (that is, their social network), what happened to them.
Blogposts grouped by topic:
(a) “The Tuttle family and the Riot”
(b) Three posts on group biography, or prosopography:
Miscellaneous Blogposts: Aesthetics, Natural History, Family History
• Other French poets: "Hercules and the Nemean Lion: A Poem by José de al Heredia"
• Poets of other languages: “Mihai Eminescu—Sonnet 1"
• My poem, “We Lay Our Burdens on Time.” Many other poems may be accessed on the Poetry tab of my website.
Poems and Memories of World War I
• “Remembering the Great War”—with poems by Akhmatova ("In Memoriam, July 19, 1914") and George Trakl (“On the Eastern Front”) and excerpts from the diaries of two children, Piete Kuhr and Yves Congar, and summaries from the diary and notebook of Ludwig Wittgenstein.
• "Remembering the Great War—1915"— with poems by the scholar H .W. Garrod (“Epitaph: Neuve Chapelle,” modeled on the Greek Anthology); a marching song by a platoon poet, Bill Bright; Patrick Shaw-Stewart, a British officer in the Gallipoli campaign (“I saw a man this morning”); Rudyard Kipling (“The Children”); and Thomas Hardy (his well-known Christmas poem, “The Oxen”). The post also includes excerpts from the diaries of Vasily Mishnin (a Russian soldier), Piete Kuhr (a Prussian schoolgirl), Helena Seifertóv Jabłońska (an Austrian widow trapped in a fortress city besieged by the Russians), Mehmed Fasih (a Turkish officer fighting opposite Shaw-Stewart), and an unknown Austrian officer fighting in the Alps.
• "Remembering the Great War—1916"—includes epitaphs on gravestones in the many cemeteries on the Gallipoli peninsula; poems by Edward Thomas ("February Afternoon"), Rose Macaulay ("Spreading Manure"), Isaac Rosenberg ("Returning, We Hear the Larks" and "August 1914"); and a diary entry by a Russian POW in a German camp dying of hunger and exposure.
• "Remembering the Great War—1917"—includes poems by Edward Thomas, who was killed in April ("A Private"); E.A. Mackintosh, a British officer on the Western Front ("In Memoriam"); a jingle by Italian soldiers mocking their leaders; and a poem by me (“Days of 1917”). The post also includes an excerpt from the diary of Douglas Lyall Grant, a British POW in a German prison camp.
• "Remembering the Great War—Days of 1918"—includes an extraordinary excerpt from the diary of Piete Kuhr, describing a playacted funeral for a dead pilot; and poems by Wilfred Owen, who was killed shortly before the Armistice ("Strange Meeting") and Siegfried Sassoon ("Everyone Sang," on the joy of being liberated from the war).
Greek Anthology and Other Classical Poetry
My “translations” are verse renderings based on one or more English prose versions.
• “Greek Anthology—Five Poems”—Poems are by Paulus Silentiarius (AD 575-580), Macdeonius the Consul (Ad 500-560), Pancrates (ca AD 140), Leontichus (3rd century BC), Diodorus of Sardis (dates unknown).
• “The Old Fisherman,” by Julianus the Egyptian
• “Cicada,” by unknown author
• Three posts on Horace’s ode on Cleopatra (37th ode of the first book): “Horace’s Ode on Cleopatra”; "Horace's Ode on Cleopatra--Commentary and David Ferry's Translation"; "Horace's Ode on Cleopatra--Ellen Bryant Voigt's Translation."
Appreciations of Contemporary Writing
Blog posts
• "Brillig—a new, handmade poetry journal from Deborah Doolittle"
• “Nikolai Kantchev, 20th Century Bulgarian Poet”
• "Ethan Unklesbay, 'Dust'" - a 2023 chapbook
Three posts on Joanie McLean’s Every Single Thing:
• Part 1
• “Part 2: Personification”
• "Part 3: Absence and Loss"
Memoir (edited and published by me):
• "How I Lived Through & Survived Brutality," by Leland Travis
Published reviews
• "Earthen Lavers: Review of Tyler Chadwick, Litany with WIngs; Scott Hales, Hemingway in Paradise and Other Poems; and Elizabeth Pinborough, The Brain's Lectionary: Psalms and Observations," Dialogue (56:1, Spring 2023)
• "Moving Bodies, Healing Places: Review of Joseph Bathanti, Light at the Seam, and Joseph Mills, Bodies in Motion," North Carolina Literary Review (online), Fall 2023
Winston-Salem, NC, history (1): An abused woman, Ida Beard, writes to vindicate her life and support her children.
Blogposts
• “My Own Life”
My editions of Ida Beard’s works:
• My Own Life, or A Deserted Wife, edited and annotated edition
• Love Letters of a Mississippi Lawyer (Annotated): An Annotated Edition of The Mississippi Lawyer or Was It All a Dream by Ida Crumpler Beard
Winston-Salem, NC, history (2): A group biography of the African American community in the late 19th century as it develops and tries to resist white supremacy.The starting point is the effort of many African Americans in August 1895 to prevent the lynching of Arthur Tuttle. The names of almost fifty defenders are known; these fifty provide the beginning place for my studies; understanding more about them is the goal—who they were, where they came from, their friends and family (that is, their social network), what happened to them.
Blogposts grouped by topic:
(a) “The Tuttle family and the Riot”
(b) Three posts on group biography, or prosopography:
- “Prosopography: Towards a Collective Biography”
- “The Method and Value of Prosopography”
- “Prosopography in 1895 Winston-Salem: Some Limitations”
- “Overview of Tuttle’s Protectors”
- “Connections (1)—Walter Tuttle,Yancey Simpson, Green Scales, and Ellis Matthews”
- “Connections (2a)—Samuel Toliver and Friends”
- “Connections (2b)—Samuel Toliver, Peter Owens, John Mack Johnson, and W. H. Neal”
- “Connections (3)—Micajah (Cager) Watt and the Depot Street School Neighborhood”
- "'Pluck Enough': An Introduction to the Background" Suicide Wrapped in Illusion"
- "'Pluck Enough': A Note on Methodology"
- "The Ruffin Letter #1 — A Survey of Political History in NC, 1865-1898"
Miscellaneous Blogposts: Aesthetics, Natural History, Family History
- "Journal - Saturday, 4 November, 2023"
- “Wire Grass”
- “Theories of Origin”
- “Quick Notes”
- "Wittgenstein and 'Count Eberhard's Hawthorn'"
- “The Clothes of My Name”
- “Political Poetry and Party Poetry”
- “Imitation: A Case”
- “Oulipo Teaches Me How to Write a Thank You Note"
- “Finding Private Hawkins”
- “Paul Thorn, Amy Queen Chappin, and Merlefest”
- “Amy Queen Chappin's Painting of Paul Thorn in Performance”
- “Cynthia Reeves – Painter”
- “Professional Deformation”