WRONG SONGS.

TATE, JAMES.

(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Halty Ferguson, 1970). 198 x 130 mm. (7 3/4 x 5"). 27, [1] pp., [1] leaf (colophon). FIRST EDITION. No. 11 OF 200 COPIES.

Publisher's Japanese grasscloth, flat spine with paper label. In original dust jacket. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR on the limitation page. With a laid-in photocopied invoice from Jett W. Whitehead (indicating a price of $250 paid in 2000). Dust jacket spine a bit sunned, otherwise as new.

This is an excellent copy of one of Tate's memorable poetry chapbooks, signed by the author. Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning poet James Tate (1943-2015) wrote character-driven, often narrative poems that balanced the absurd with the heartbreaking. In a 2006 interview with Charles Simic for the "Paris Review," Tate reflects on his own work, saying: "There is nothing better than [to move the reader deeply]. I love my funny poems, but I'd rather break your heart. And if I can do both in the same poem, that's the best. If you laughed earlier in the poem, and I bring you close to tears in the end, that's the best." Containing three poems, "The Distant Orgasm," "Breathing," and "Two-Hundred-and-One," this collection of "wrong songs" provides brief vignettes, more flashes of emotion than story, handling grief, pleasure, and a sense of presence in time, told with Tate's signature wry banality. This copy is from the collection of Laure-Anne Bosselaar (b. 1943) and her husband Kurt Brown (1944-2013). Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, and editor who has published numerous works of poetry in multiple languages, including five collections of her own works. She has received various prizes and recognitions (Pushcart, Isabella Gardner, Breadloaf) and was named Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara in 2019. Sometimes publishing jointly with Bosselaar, Brown was also a prolific poet and editor of anthologies, as well as the founder and first director of the Aspen Writer's Conference, playing a pivotal role in shaping its early vision and establishing Aspen as a literary center. (ST20338-025)

Price: $175.00