Verse and Worse: Selected and New Poems of Steve McCaffery 1989-2009

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements Excerpts from Lag, An Effect of Cellophane, Theory of Sediment, and Teachable Texts, plus “Restricted Translation with Imperfect Level Shift (after Basho),” “The Curve to Its Answer,”“The Entries,”“The Logic of Six,”“Prior to Meaning,” and “A Theory of the Lyric,” are the same versions that appear in Seven Pages Missing Volume One: Selected Texts 1969–1999 (Coach House Books, 2001) and Seven Pages Missing Volume Two: Previously Uncollected Texts 1968–2000 (Coach House Books, 2002). Thanks to Christina Palassio, Evan Munday, and Alana Wilcox for their assistance with this material. Special thanks to Nathan Baker for locating and organizing the archival files. “Tyrolean Night,”“Apologia pro vita sua,” and “The Dangers of Poetry (for Italo Calvino)” are from Slightly Left of Thinking: Poems, Texts and PostCognitions (Chax Press, 2008). Thanks to Charles Alexander for making it possible for them to appear here. “A Child’s History of Rhetoric Caught as It Happens,”“Ephemera,”“Oedipus Meets the Abstract Machine,”“The Lone Ranger in Arcadia,”“The Poem as a Thing to See,”“The View from Here,” and “Correlata for a Cryptogram” are from Paradigm of the Tinctures, with illustrations by Alan Halsey (Granary Books, 2007). Steve McCaffery would like to thank all of the journals, magazines, and small presses that first published his poetry, both the works that appear in this volume and elsewhere. Cover photo by Steve McCaffery, of books in the library of Steve McCaffery and Karen Mac Cormack, Buffalo, N.Y., 2009. Acknowledgements / 73 This page intentionally left blank Books in the Laurier Poetry Series Published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press Dionne Brand Fierce Departures: The Poetry of Dionne Brand, edited by Leslie C. Sanders, with an afterword by Dionne Brand • 2009 • xvi + 44 pp. • isbn 978-1-55458-038-5 Di Brandt Speaking of Power: The Poetry of Di Brandt, edited by Tanis MacDonald, with an afterword by Di Brandt • 2006 • xvi + 56pp. • isbn-10: 0-88920-506-x; isbn-13: 978-0-88920-506-2 Nicole Brossard Mobility of Light: The Poetry of Nicole Brossard, edited by Louise H. Forsyth, with an afterword by Nicole Brossard • 2009 • xxvi + 118 pp. • isbn 978-1-55458-047-7 George Elliott Blues and Bliss: The Poetry of George Elliott Clarke, edited by Jon Clarke Paul Fiorentino, with an afterword by George Elliott Clarke • 2008 • xviii + 72 pp. • isbn 978-1-55458-060-6 Dennis Cooley By Word of Mouth: The Poetry of Dennis Cooley, edited by Nicole Markotić, with an afterword by Dennis Cooley • 2007 • xxii + 62 pp. • isbn-10: 1-55458-007-2; isbn-13: 978-1-55458-007-1 Lorna Crozier Before the First Word: The Poetry of Lorna Crozier, edited by Catherine Hunter, with an afterword by Lorna Crozier • 2005 • xviii + 62 pp. • isbn-10: 0-88920-489-6; isbn-13: 978-0-88920-489-8 Christopher Children of the Outer Dark: The Poetry of Christopher Dewdney, Dewdney edited by Karl E. Jirgens, with an afterword by Christopher Dewdney • 2007 • xviii + 60 pp. • isbn-10: 0-88920-515-9; isbn-13: 978-0-88920-515-4 Don Earthly Pages: The Poetry of Don Domanski, edited by Brian Domanski Bartlett, with an afterword by Don Domanski • 2007 • xvi + 62 pp. • isbn-10: 1-55458-008-0; isbn-13: 978-1-55458-008-8 Louis Dudek All These Roads: The Poetry of Louis Dudek, edited by Karis Shearer, with an afterword by Frank Davey • 2008 • xx+ 70 pp. • isbn 978-1-55458-039-2 M.Travis Lane The Crisp Day Closing on My Hand: The Poetry of M.Travis Lane, edited by Jeanette Lynes, with an afterword by M.Travis Lane • 2007 • xvi + 86 pp. • isbn-10: 1-55458-025-0; isbn-13: 9781 -55458-025-5 Tim Lilburn Desire Never Leaves: The Poetry of Tim Lilburn, edited by Alison Calder, with an afterword by Tim Lilburn • 2007 • xiv + 50 pp. • isbn-10: 0-88920-514-0; isbn-13: 978-0-88920-514-7 Steve McCafferyVerse and Worse: Selected and New Poems of Steve McCaffery 1989–2009, edited by Darren Wershler, with an afterword by Steve McCaffery • 2010 • xiv + 76 pp. • isbn 978-1-55458-188-7 Don McKay Field Marks: The Poetry of Don McKay, edited by Méira Cook, with an afterword by Don McKay • 2006 • xxvi + 60 pp. • isbn-10: 0-88920-494-2; isbn-13: 978-0-88920-494-2 Al Purdy The More Easily Kept Illusions: The Poetry of...