SOME VISUAL RESPONSES TO POEMS OF JEROME ROTHENBERG
by David Hackbridge Johnson
Sketch for the Lies of a Mad King
Mythical Forest (actually a lady and her dog in Garratt Green, Tooting)
Sketch of Lies in the Mouth
Fallen Temple in the Mountains
Orpheus Sings in the River Hebrus
The above visual works are very much sketches in progress inspired by Jerome Rothenberg's unique voice, or rather voices, as he seeks a poetry which encapsulates the fault lines of the archaic and the modern. A poet 'speaking in tongues' might be an apposite descriptor for a writer who through his anthologising of the recoverable utterances of almost lost peoples, has through his own work threaded an experience of contemporary America and its churning melting pot of past and present cultures. I was very fortunate to meet Rothenberg at a conference organised by Valerie Soar and Geoff Browell at King's College, London on 12th March 2022 where he read lyrics, incantations, Dada-esque sketches, and several long poems of Blakean vision and warning - most notably his poem In the Shadow of a Mad King.
The conference also featured the work of poet and critic Eric Mottram and I will feature some work motivated by his example in a future post - most especially since my view of Mottram as poet was transformed by the inspired readings of his work given by Allen Fisher, Ken Edwards and Jerome Rothenberg.
DHJ 14.iii.2022