GC: Of course!
Sounded very ambitious!
VP: My personal
"egoistic" interest lies in publishing my collections of poetry translations!
Those I've translated into Russian: Emily Dickinson, Robinson Jeffers, T.S.
Eliot, D.H. Lawrence; and various selections of Anglo-American poetry (past and
present). And, those I've translated into English: Maximilian Voloshin, Marina
Tsvetaeva, Alexander Blok, Michael Lermontov, and others. "
GC: I'm a fan of
each of the English and American poets you mentioned. " I'd certainly like to
know more about the Russian writers you've translated!
VP: Another American
poet I admire a lot is Lawrence Ferlinghetti. "
GC: One of my
heroes! I believe he is 94 now. He pretty much ignited the "Beat Movement" with
his City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, and then with City Lights Press
publishing the likes of Ginsberg, Snyder, Gregory Corso and others. There were
progenitors like Kenneth Rexroth and Kenneth Patchen, even William Carlos
Williams. Yes" we could talk a lot about that. City Lights Review published a
poem of mine about Brazilian environmental activist-martyr Chico Mendez--back in
the 90s!
VP: All the counterculture of the 60's and its music
were fed by those poets! It was a true Renaissance .
GC: That adds an other dimension to our discussion--showing your knowledge, not
just of poetry and science, but of the American 60s Renaissance. (In fact,
we've been living here in a Reactionary Age to that "Counter-culture"
movement-- starting with Reagan--for the past 33 years!)
VP: The ideas we've exchanged about the need for poets and artists of
different cultures, different backgrounds, to talk to one another about this
modern world--and our need to take political stands" it put me in mind of this
short poem:
Poetry as Insurgent Art [I am
signaling you through the flames]
I am signaling you through the
flames.
The North Pole is not where it used
to be.
Manifest Destiny is no longer manifest.
Civilization self-destructs.
Nemesis is knocking at the door.
What are poets for, in such an age?
What is the use of poetry?
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