Harvey
Mudd, Spinoza's Dog. New and Selected
Poems. The Porcupine Press, October 17, 2017 - 176 pages
Of
de titel van de bundel als gedicht erin voorkomt, weet ik niet, maar een
intrigerende titel is het. Bij “Spinoza’s
Dog” kan ik alleen maar denken aan Spinoza’s bekende beeldspraak over de
blaffende hond en het sterrenbeeld Hond. Maar of Harvey Mudd (1940) het ook zo
bedoelt, weet ik niet. Enfin, het leek me toch de moeite waard op deze titel en
de door Harvey Mudd zelf geschilderde cover te wijzen:
HARVEY
MUDD'S FIRST PUBLISHED POEM was written in 1960. The last poem in this book was
written in 2016. In the intervening 55 years, he wrote four books of poetry,
two of which were published by Black Sparrow Press of Santa Barbara. One was
short listed for the Los Angeles Times poetry book of the year. During that
period, he was a farmer in Northern New Mexico, the director of an
Environmental organization, and a painter. The cover illustration is a painting
by Mudd. He traveled extensively, was always active in politics, and raised
three children. He has lived in New Mexico, old Mexico, Vermont, New York City,
and Massachusetts. When George W. Bush was elected for a second term, he moved
to the south of France, where he still lives.
This
volume contains poems selected from the previous four published books, but the
majority are poems written between 2009 and the present. He considers these
later poems his best work. [Cf.]
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