University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009 eISBN: 978-0-8229-7827-5 | Paper: 978-0-8229-6036-2 Library of Congress Classification PS3622.A585O64 2009 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.6
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Drawing upon intersections of astronomy and mathematics, history, literature, and lived experience, the poems in Open Interval locate the self in the interval between body and name.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon is assistant professor of English at Cornell University. She is the author of the poetry collection Black Swan, winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and coauthor, with Elizabeth Alexander, of the chapbook Poems in Conversation and a Conversation. Her poems have appeared in African American Review, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, Rattapallax, Shenandoah, and in several anthologies including Bum Rush the Page and Role Call.
REVIEWS
“What joy to enter the universe Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon wills into being. In ]Open Interval[ Jimi Hendrix, Robert Hass, Rilke, Bearden, John Goodricke, Blues, Desire, Longing, Supernovas, and more are all held together with lyrical daring and fierce imagination. Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon invents a new world to reveal to us the secret workings of the old.”
—Cornelius Eady
“At once luminous and fiercely heartrending.” —American Poet
“Exceptional . . . represents a quantum leap in imagination, as she has discovered that the more distance one attains from the hardened self, the clearer it becomes to the observer. Her attention has swung from the relaxed narrative line to formal perfection.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
1
Bop: The North Star
Icarus
Dear John
Reclining Nude, c. 1977, Romare Bearden
The Buffet Dream
Lost
Andromeda
RR Lyrae: Will
Maul
2
Penelope
Urania’s Mirror
Ithaca
Dear John: (Winking Demon)
RR Lyrae: Supernova
Transit of Venus
Body Worlds 2: In Case
Clementines
She’ll Wait
3
Dear John: (Invention)
Penelope
RR Lyrae: Matter
The Orchard
RR Lyrae: Sign
Black Hole
July 2005, London
Blues for Dame Van Winkle
M(n)eme
4
Come Sunday
Reclining Nude, c. 1977, Romare Bearden
RR Lyrae: Magnetic
RR Lyrae: Timepiece
Poem for Amadou Diallo
Ink
Body Worlds 2: X Lady
Garden
Blackbody Radiator
Blackbody Radiator
Blackbody Radiator
The Ends of Praise
Tandem
Notes
Acknowledgments
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009 eISBN: 978-0-8229-7827-5 Paper: 978-0-8229-6036-2
Drawing upon intersections of astronomy and mathematics, history, literature, and lived experience, the poems in Open Interval locate the self in the interval between body and name.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon is assistant professor of English at Cornell University. She is the author of the poetry collection Black Swan, winner of the 2001 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, and coauthor, with Elizabeth Alexander, of the chapbook Poems in Conversation and a Conversation. Her poems have appeared in African American Review, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, Rattapallax, Shenandoah, and in several anthologies including Bum Rush the Page and Role Call.
REVIEWS
“What joy to enter the universe Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon wills into being. In ]Open Interval[ Jimi Hendrix, Robert Hass, Rilke, Bearden, John Goodricke, Blues, Desire, Longing, Supernovas, and more are all held together with lyrical daring and fierce imagination. Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon invents a new world to reveal to us the secret workings of the old.”
—Cornelius Eady
“At once luminous and fiercely heartrending.” —American Poet
“Exceptional . . . represents a quantum leap in imagination, as she has discovered that the more distance one attains from the hardened self, the clearer it becomes to the observer. Her attention has swung from the relaxed narrative line to formal perfection.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
1
Bop: The North Star
Icarus
Dear John
Reclining Nude, c. 1977, Romare Bearden
The Buffet Dream
Lost
Andromeda
RR Lyrae: Will
Maul
2
Penelope
Urania’s Mirror
Ithaca
Dear John: (Winking Demon)
RR Lyrae: Supernova
Transit of Venus
Body Worlds 2: In Case
Clementines
She’ll Wait
3
Dear John: (Invention)
Penelope
RR Lyrae: Matter
The Orchard
RR Lyrae: Sign
Black Hole
July 2005, London
Blues for Dame Van Winkle
M(n)eme
4
Come Sunday
Reclining Nude, c. 1977, Romare Bearden
RR Lyrae: Magnetic
RR Lyrae: Timepiece
Poem for Amadou Diallo
Ink
Body Worlds 2: X Lady
Garden
Blackbody Radiator
Blackbody Radiator
Blackbody Radiator
The Ends of Praise
Tandem
Notes
Acknowledgments
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE