vale Jackson Mac Low 1922-2004
Belatedly, wanting to acknowledge the passing of Jackson Mac Low last week. There's an obituary at The New York Times and here's more info on Mac Low .
The poem below is from his series of Light Poems.
1ST LIGHT POEM: FOR IRIS -- 10 JUNE 1962
The light of a student-lamp
sapphire light
shimmer
the light of a smoking-lamp
Light from the Magellanic Clouds
the light of a Nernst lamp
the light of a naphtha-lamp
light from meteorites
Evanescent light
ether
the light of an electric lamp
extra light
Citrine light
kineographic light
the light of a Kitson lamp
kindly light
Ice light
irradiation
ignition
altar light
The light of a spotlight
a sunbeam
sunrise
solar light
Mustard-oil light
...
Comments
It's large and very diverse. There should be something in there for everyone. I especially enjoyed the poems by Phi O and Peter Rose, and a fine elegy for Jan McKemmish by Pam Brown.
The editor also included previously unpublished work and I wonder if that's a departure from the practices of previous BAP editors?
Adam Aitken
Yes, it's almost, but not, overwhelming. I liked Martin's poem for Dorothy as well. And Chris Edward's poem - well, partly because I edited the poetry feature it was part of. And ..., and ... Many others to enjoy.
I think that it has been a feature of a lot of previous Black Inc BAPS (as opposed to the UQP ones), for the editors to accept submissions during the year of unpublished as well as published work. Peter Rose decided not to, as I recall, but I'm sure Les and Dorothy did.
Jill