Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Markov Chain

The Markov Chain

Pearson, Ted

Paperback

General Poetry

ISBN10: 1848615337
ISBN13: 9781848615335
Publisher: Summertime Pub
Published: Apr 14 2017
Pages: 68
Weight: 0.21
Height: 0.16 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
Poetry. When Basil Bunting declared that 'Pens are too light. / Take a chisel to write, ' I imagine he had in mind the kind of exact and exacting poetry Ted Pearson has been steadily producing for decades. In THE MARKOV CHAIN, Pearson presents a series of eight-line poems, each composed of four exquisitely crafted alexandrines: 'These formal restrictions // are like benedictions...Constraints lead to freedoms // exceeding predictions.' Raising the ante, Pearson uses these formal constraints to probe the social constraints contemporary culture imposes on art and life. 'When the People say we, // they don't mean you and me. / The consensus they're seeking // will set no one free.' This double take on constraints creates an animating tension throughout the book, one in which 'The gist of the lyric // tells a whole other tale.' Pearson's chiseled poems enact a deep investigation into language that at once revels in and questions its own constraints. Follow at your own pace, but Pearson's ear, as always, won't lead you astray.--Paul Naylor

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