We're starting this week off with video and audio from the opening celebration for INTERFACES: Work by Rachel Blau DuPlessis, held at the Brodsky Gallery at our own Kelly Writers House on November 15, 2017.
As the introductory note for the event observes, "Collage poems as an inter-art practice characterize recent work by Rachel Blau DuPlessis." It continues: "These collage poems, in serial groups like Churning the Ocean of Milk, Life in Handkerchiefs, and Numbers, are charged by DuPlessis's mix of aphorism, aesthetic perception, and sociopolitical comment. A bright visuality, intense poetic commentary, and a confrontative intertextuality combine in these personable and evocative works on paper, which negotiate the afterlife of debris by vibrant uses of its traces." This event features DuPlessis reading selections from her recent books Days and Works (Ahsahta, 2017) and Graphic Novella (Xeroxial Editions, 2015), along with a illustrated talk on her collage work in the exhibition.
It's appropriate that the archive you'll find on PennSound's Rachel Blau DuPlessis author page is as ambitious, complex, and rich as the poet's work. In numerous audio and video recordings going back four decades, you'll find readings from the vast majority of DuPlessis' one hundred and fourteen poems that comprise her twenty-six year magnum opus, Drafts, along with a sampling of the work that came before and after that project. There are also numerous talks, interviews, and other events. Click here to start browsing.
