A review of the new book of poems by Pulitzer-winning poet Rita Dove tells the story of a man who could have changed the history of classical music. Instead he disappeared. Here’s Teresa Witz reviewing the book for The Root:

Way, way back in the day, there was an Afro-Polish violinist, a biracial child prodigy of such virtuosity that even Beethoven felt compelled to dedicate a sonata to him. There were honors and accolades and patronage from a prince.

But fortunes changed, as poet laureate Rita Dove describes in her novel-sized book of poems, Sonata Mulattica: A Life in Five Movements and a Short Play. The violinist, George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower, and his composer, Ludwig van Beethoven,  performed the sonata together to thunderous acclaim.

The goodwill between them evaporated as the two quarreled over a woman. Beethoven furiously erased Bridgetower’s name and scribbled the name of another violinist when he dedicated the sonata.

That is how the “Sonata Mulattica” became the “Kreutzer Sonata,” one of Beethoven’s most famous works. Through that one fit of jealous retribution, Beethoven wrote Bridgetower out of history.

The Polish black virtuoso, once famous, now forgotten.

Thanks a lot, Ludwig.

Source:  The Root  

The latest issue of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet (LCRW) fairly buzzes with vibrant, intelligent writing.  This literary ‘zine published biannually out of Northampton, Massachusetts has been around for a decade or so and features a lively blend of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and comics.   

Nick Wolven’s story “The Lovesling” follows the path of a “dramatic new tool for mega love increasement” and unfolds with disarming grace and humor, as the titular instrument takes on a surprising life of its own.  Kat Meads’ “The Emily(s) Debate the Impact of Reclusivity on Life, Art, Family, Community, and Pets” situates the two great Emilys of literature, Dickinson and Brontë, in an insufferable public dialogue with their fans, calling attention to, among other things, the cult of celebrity around authors.  And Kim Parko’s prose poems work like odd little parables.  “Shiny Hair”, for example, tells the story of two girls whose existence is defined by their hair: “One was always treated better than the other because of her thick, shiny hair, but that is not to say she was treated well.” It's an introduction that evolves into a unsettling yet totally engrossing poem .

LCRW is only available through direct order, so check out their website, which also contains information on their press, Small Beer Press.

Is poetry still relevant?  You be the judge.  For a sampling of thoughts on the current state of poetry by poets, check out this month’s Poetry, which contains eight manifestos to commemorate the centennial of Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto.  The following are quotes from D.A. Powell’s manifesto “Annie Get Your Gun”:

“I don’t know that artists and poets join schools for quite the same reason that sardines do. Sometimes there’s a true innovator in the bunch, sometimes they really do share some common misunderstandings about aesthetics, sometimes it just so happens that a bunch of really interesting people all shop at the same hat shop and they start to hang out and resemble one another and make little sandwiches. It can seem quite seductive to be associated with a school.”

“I think sometimes that artists, like other lower forms of intelligence, want to “belong.” Or rather, that they want to not belong in some similar ways. They want to belong to the outside, and yet to be recognized by the inside.”

“Maybe it’s peculiar to our time, in which actual schools (academies) proliferate and spawn, that we’re seeing so much centrism. What we need is more eccentrism. Who isn’t tired of the contemporary qua contemporary? Who isn’t bored by innovation for innovation’s sake? It has, sadly, become the mode du jour. Not even a school.”

Source: Poetry

By blacking out large sections in newspapers, Austin-based writer and cartoonist Austin Kleon creates poetry. Some of the poems are funny, some are melodramatic, but the site's worth a look.

(Thanks, Kottke.org.)

Herewith, the latest highlights from our alt-press library, as regularly featured in From the Stacks:

A beautifully written reverie for a lost city, from the New Orleans duet-zine Keep Loving, Keep Fighting / I Hate This Part of Texas. Feminisms in motion at make/shift, a new magazine that’s fresh, feisty, and stunningly diverse. A vivid, nostalgia-inducing tribute to “America’s greatest art form”—jazz—from Stop Smiling. The nude male form, in all its hairy variety, strutting on through the Amsterdam-based Butt. A special issue on translation from Poetry, featuring poems translated into English from 18 different languages. And it’s been a tough year for music magazines, so here’s a happy-tenth-anniversary shout-out to Paste!

Poetry magazine steps into the international realm in its April 2008 issue, “The Translation Issue,” which contains poems from around the globe translated into English from 18 languages. The conversion of words and ideas from one language to another can be a challenging task, and it's not always that readers get a glimpse of this involved process. In this case, however, a short essay written by the translator accompanies each poem. “Like the ‘columns, arches, vaults’ of an edifice, the abstract proportions of poetry—as of any art—make promises they cannot keep: a world of perfection, beyond chance and change,” writes Hoyt Rogers following his translation of Yves Bonnefoy’s, “San Biagio, at Montepulciano.” Three poems are featured on the magazine’s website, so you’ll have to pick up a copy of the issue if you want to read them all.

—Sarah Pumroy