{"id":50800,"date":"2022-04-16T14:44:25","date_gmt":"2022-04-16T18:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=50800"},"modified":"2022-04-18T10:06:21","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T14:06:21","slug":"time-travels-when-a-poet-clocks-more-than-the-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2022\/04\/time-travels-when-a-poet-clocks-more-than-the-hours.html","title":{"rendered":"TIME TRAVELS:<\/em> When a Poet Clocks More Than the Hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you think the cover design of A. Robert Lee’s TIME TRAVELS recalls the design of City Lights Books’ Pocket Poets Series, you are not wrong. According to its editor, the Cast Iron Poetry Series is intended to emulate that classic line of poetry chapbooks. Lee’s is the 18th title released to date. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s an excerpt<\/em>:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Click to purchase.<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.
\u2014Nathaniel Hawthorne<\/strong>, The Marble Faun<\/em> (1859)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
\u2014George Santayana<\/strong>, Soliloquies In England and Later Soliloquies<\/em> (1922)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

i<\/em>\nMore than memory, mere chronometer\none's personal time carousel.\nThe blades circle-slide over, into, each other,\nenactive, kinetic.\nHow easy to think life just time-chapters,\nthe one and next page. \nBut it's not that way,\nrather elision, overlap, ripple.\nA reprimand to stop and start.\nTime for all of us has been awkwardly fluent.\nChildhood, youth, \nwhen time was still thought time yet to come.\nMiddle years, adulthood,\nwhen it was thought you had, or had lost, grip.\nLate age, veteran years, thinning skin,\nwhen there was recognition\nthat often-attributed wisdom was a fault-line.\nA glut of other times\nthere have been: things done full-time, part-time,\nmany a time going over-time.\nTime itself must age you sometimes fancy,\nbut if it does, it equally does not.\nAlways the indifferent stakeholder.\nAlways the successful investment broker.\nWhile oneself, body, mind, mirror,\nwatch Time, or time, give it passing glance.\nThere's little option but to take your final lead,\nwith accusation, lament, rant.\nBut Time, time, it needs not be doubted, heads on,\nwithout a seeming backward look\nor for that matter some forward salute.\nJust not giving way.\nNor giving so much as a hoot.\nEven if we do.\n\nii<\/em>\nOdd that when you think Time an outsider\nyou do so as your own timekeeper.\nI mean, count up the different stations.\nDate of birth, birthdays.\nSchool time, college.\nMarriage, parenthood, lost aunt.\nTrips, divorce.\nAccident, operation.\nAdd in the dateless calendar.\nFirst kiss, last hurrah.\nSecond in line, runner-up.\nTime when you were busy all the time.\nTime when it was a waste of your time.\nTime when it took longer than planned.\nTime when you got matters done in no time.\nTime when you did not take time to consider.\nTime when you didn't give it sufficient time.\nSpeech carries each and every message.\nWe're in no rush you tell the estate agent.\nPronto you beseech the plumber.\nNever enough time you say to the family.\nThey are away most of the time.\nThis isn't the right time.\nThe time is just right.\nDay in, day out, this month, that month,\nthere's the feeling, more likely the conviction,\nthat time is always a timeshare.\n\n<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
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Click to enlarge.<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A. Robert Lee is the author of a dozen creative collections, including Japan Textures: Sight and Word<\/em> (2007) with Mark Gresham), Tokyo Commute<\/em> (2011), Ars Geographica: Maps and Compasses<\/em> (2012), Imaginarium: Sightings, Galleries, Sightlines <\/em>(2013), Password: A Book of Locks and Keys <\/em>(2016), Off Course: Roundabouts & Deviations<\/em> (2016), Written Eye: Visuals\/Verse<\/em> (2017, Writer Directory: A Book of Encounters<\/em> (2019), Daylong; Nightlong: 24 Hour Poetry<\/em> (2020), Suspicious Circumstances<\/em> (2020), and Outside In: Hinges and Swivels<\/em> (2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was Professor in the English Department at Nihon University, Tokyo 1997-2011, having previously taught for almost three decades at the University of Kent, UK. Currently he lives in Murcia, Spain. Under sun. Among his academic publications Multicultural American Literature: Comparative Black, Native, Latino\/and Asian American Fictions<\/em> (2003) won the American Book Award in 2004. Other critique includes ed. Other Britain, Other British: Contemporary Multicultural Fiction<\/em> (1995), Designs of Blackness: Mappings in the Literature and Culture of Afro-America<\/em> (1998) \u2014 25th Anniversary Edition<\/em> (2020), Gothic to Multicultural: Idioms of Imagining in American Literary Fiction<\/em> (2009), Modern American Counter Writing: Beats, Outriders, Ethnics<\/em> (2010), The Beats: Authorships, Legacies<\/em> (2019), and Native North American Authorship: Text Breath, Modernity<\/em> (2022). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you think the cover design of A. Robert Lee’s TIME TRAVELS recalls the design of City Lights Books’ Pocket Poets Series, you are not wrong. According to its editor, the Cast Iron Poetry Series is intended to emulate that classic line of chapbooks. Lee’s is the 18th title released to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,18,4,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-50800","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"category-literature","9":"category-main","10":"category-news","11":"category-political-culture","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/TIME-TRAVELS-cover-enh-bdr335.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-ddm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50800"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50896,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50800\/revisions\/50896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}