{"product_id":"the-crystal-text-9780872869042","title":"The Crystal Text","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eClark Coolidge's book-length meditation on a crystal--long considered a masterpiece of American avant-garde poetry--returns in a new edition.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"No other poet ever has so exquisitely, and sometimes also turbulently, written sheer sonic wonder into poetry.\"\u003cb\u003e--Lyn Hejinian, author of \u003ci\u003eMy Life and My Life in the Nineties\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the summer of 1982, Clark Coolidge received an unexpected gift of a crystal; small, clear, entirely unexceptional, the crystal nonetheless provoked the poet into writing what has long been considered his masterpiece, \u003ci\u003eThe Crystal Text\u003c\/i\u003e (1986). A durational poem composed over the course of 10 months, in daybook-like entries of varying length, \u003ci\u003eThe Crystal Text\u003c\/i\u003e is multifaceted and elusive, constantly interrogating itself. Is it a meditation on its titular object like Keats's \"Urn\" or a radical investigation of the limits of language as a signifying system? Is the poet channeling the crystal to access its message or is the crystal channeling the poet, drawing language from him to fill its colorless emptiness? Is it dictation or improvisation? Is the poem a record of its own crystalline growth or does it capture the process of consciousness itself? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Crystal Text\u003c\/i\u003e refuses to resolve the questions it raises but rather inhabits its various possibilities simultaneously, resulting in one of the major works of late 20th century American avant-garde poetry. This new edition includes a preface by poet and scholar Peter Gizzi and an afterword in which Coolidge discusses the text with poet Jason Morris and City Lights editor Garrett Caples. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAssociated with the New York School and subsequently inspiring the Language Poets, Coolidge remains one of the most singular and original American poets of our time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginally from Providence, Rhode Island, \u003cb\u003eClark Coolidge\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of more than fifty books of poetry, including \u003ci\u003eA Book Beginning What and Ending Away, Selected Poems: 1962-1985, The Land of All Time\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTo the Cold Heart\u003c\/i\u003e. In 2011, he edited \u003ci\u003ePhilip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures, and Conversations\u003c\/i\u003e for University of California Press. Initially a drummer, he was a member of David Meltzer's Serpent Power in 1967 and Mix group in 1993-1994. More recently, Coolidge has performed duos with Thurston Moore (\u003ci\u003eAmong the Poetry Stricken\u003c\/i\u003e, on Fast Speaking Music) and free improv with Ouroboros. He now lives in Petaluma, California. \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Gizzi\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of many books of poetry, including \u003ci\u003eIn Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems 1987-2011\u003c\/i\u003e. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He lives in Melrose, Massachusetts. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJason Morris\u003c\/b\u003e was born and raised in Vermont. He is the author of ten books and chapbooks, including \u003ci\u003eLow Life\u003c\/i\u003e (Bird \u0026amp; Beckett Books, 2021); \u003ci\u003eDifferent Darknesses\u003c\/i\u003e (FMSBW, 2019); \u003ci\u003eLevon Helm\u003c\/i\u003e (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018), and \u003ci\u003eSpirits \u0026amp; Anchors\u003c\/i\u003e (Auguste Presse, 2010). He lives in San Francisco, California.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"City Lights Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50625399357714,"sku":"9780872869042","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_dde53c4e-4ddb-4607-bd60-58d9568455e4.jpg?v=1732628686","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-crystal-text-9780872869042","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}