Wednesday, November 16, 5:30 pm Central
Virtual Event: Register Here
Rain Taxi welcomes legendary California poet Will Alexander to celebrate the publication of his newest book, Divine Blue Light (for John Coltrane), being published as Number 63 in the famed City Lights Pocket Poets Series. Like so much of Alexander’s work, this latest volley travels a path between surrealism and afro-futurism, creating an alternative cartography that draws upon his omnivorous reading (in subjects from biology to astronomy to history to philosophy), amalgamating their diverse vocabularies into an impossible instrument only he can play.
At this special publication day event, Alexander will be in conversation with poet and critic D.S. Marriott. Do not miss this meeting of minds, which is sure to light the divine blue in us all!
"A long-distance runner extraordinaire, Will Alexander parses and devours information, code and arcana lest they parse and devour him, parse and devour us. What but deep seas and distant galaxies would make such a demand his extended soliloquies implicitly ask and overtly answer."
—Nathaniel Mackey
Divine Blue Light (for John Coltane)
by Will Alexander
$16.95
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Will Alexander is a poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher, visual artist, and musician. He has published over two dozen books and has earned many honors and awards, including a Whiting Fellowship for Poetry, a Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award, and the 2016 Jackson Poetry Prize. He has also exhibited his artwork in group and solo shows. His work is known for its visionary, oracular surrealism and the influence of Negritude; among his publications are Refractive Africa (New Directions, 2021/Granta, 2022), which was named a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and won the California Book Award for Poetry, The Combustion Cycle (Roof, 2021), and Diary as Sin (Skylight Press, 2011). He is currently the poet-in-residence at Beyond Baroque in Venice, California. Born in 1948 in Los Angeles, he has lived his entire life in that city.
D.S. Marriott was born and educated in England and received his Ph.D. in literature from the University of Sussex. He currently teaches Philosophy at Emory University. His poetry books include: Incognegro (Salt Publications, 2006); Hoodoo Voodoo (Shearsman Books, 2008); Duppies (Commune Editions, 2018); and Before Whiteness (City Lights, 2022). His present project, Of Effacement, is a critical study of the question of blackness in philosophy, art, and politics.