[Last updated December 18, 2006]
Here are the complete texts of the poems and songs in my
collections
Curses (1974)
and
The Country Changes (1978), both published by Alice James Books, and still
available from AJB.
In 2007 I may add sheet music, MIDI files, or both, for the
various songs.
Paul Goodman wrote, in his Notes for a Defense of Poetry,
"To say deliberately just how it is with me is apparently how I
pray, if I may judge by the language that comes to me — especially
when I am at a loss for grief, confusion, gratitude, or fear.
In moments of impasse — but only when I have earned
the right to say it because I have tried hard — I have written
`Creator Spirit, come.'" These poems of mine are, more or less,
in the stanza Goodman used for his "little prayers", one
of which I have copied here.
These poems, together with my Little Prayers,
are published in book form under the title
A Woman and a Man, Ice-Fishing, as the winner
of the 2004 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize competition
of the Texas Review Press, judged by John Hollander.
Prepublication blurbs:
Lee Rudolph is among the least boring poets I know.
His bold, inventive work keeps handing us
fresh surprises, from the surreal hilarity
of the title poem to the moving ``Little
Prayers.'' Master of many instruments,
Rudolph can deliver fat-free free
verse as well as song lyrics
(``Lullaby''), experimental forms
(``Escape Reading,''
``Scraps from the Dream Newspaper''),
and tightly rhymed lyrics
(``Beauty'', ``Weather Report'').
You never know what to expect from
him, except that each poem will be
powerful, arresting, and original.
X. J. Kennedy
I love these strange, witty, passionate
poems, so rare in their range of far
and near, here and there, light and dark.
``A singing lamp,'' ``lamp skull.''
Jean Valentine (National Book Award winner
for poetry, 2004)
This mock-heroic poem was originally written in 1967.
The sidenotes were added in 1976. The New Yorker nearly
accepted it (no, really!) in 1980. In the early 1990s, I
posted it in the Usenet newsgroup sci.math.
In somewhat revised form, the poem was finally printed in the Spring,
1996, issue of The Mathematical Intelligencer.
The poems and songs on these pages are copyright © 1967-2006
by Lee Rudolph.