norbert blei | seifert and others

Poetry Dispatch No. 207 | January 23, 2008

SEIFERT & Others (Sue Peterson, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, Ruth Wallis/Risque’ Songs…) REVISITED

(A POETRY DISPATCH NEWSLETTER/UPDATE OF SORTS)

While we are still in the first month of the New Year, I thought I would call your attention to the Czech poet, Jaroslav Seifert again (Poetry Dispatch #206, the first dispatch of 2008) via Klaus (Monsieur K’s) insights and excellent work at www.poetrydispatch.wordpress.com .

The archived (and greatly enhanced) version of this dispatch includes important biographical info about the Seifert, as well as photographs and a reader’s contact/commentary from Prague.

The first photograph that accompanies the Seifert dispatch more than caught my breath. (Monsieur K, way over there in France, seems to be reading my mind — or senses the conditions I work in.) It is a photo of a ‘busy’ desk by the brilliant old Czech photographer, Josef Sudek, (1896-1976). His photographs of Prague were often compared to Atget’s photographs of Paris.

I have treasured Sudek’s desk photo since the first time I saw it in the 1970’s. Since then, my desk (my condition here in the coop…a long way from Prague) has slowly taken on the depth and character of Sudek’s famous photograph—called “The Labyrinth“. Perhaps that old photo was an artistic piece of foreshadowing. Lost. Out of control. I wish it were otherwise, but there seems to be nothing I can do. I’m destined to live and write in the labyrinth.

More on Seifert and his work in a future dispatch. (More on Sudek too…but probably for print, not the net.)

It took a fair number of months, but Monsieur Klaus and I are now caught up. All the Poetry Dispatches (going back to 2005) have now been archived. What a treasure. Please consult the archives on a regular basis. Pass the site on to friends. By Monsieur K’s count, it is a very active sites, thousands of hits — from all over the world. There is so much good work there. And much more to come. Stay with it…me…us.

I would also like to call your attention to please take a second look at the following recent (greatly enhanced) Poetry Dispatches in particular: Susan Peterson (A Quiet Poet in the Village), Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (A Belated Obit) and Ruth Wallis (Risque’ Songs). In each instance, you will be both informed and delighted by the added material.

So take a few minutes. Go to http://www.poetrydispatch.wordpress.com Look up Jaroslav Seifert first. Read/enjoy. Move on to Susan Peterson, Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (some great photos of her) and Ruth Wallis — both photos and old album covers of all.

Thank you all.

And thank you Klaus — for making this happen, a bigger, better, wider and wider concept on the world wide web!

Norbert Blei

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