The Markov Chain

by Ted Pearson

Overview

“When Basil Bunting declared that “Pens are too light. / Take a chisel to write,” I imagine he had in mind the kind of exact and exacting poetry Ted Pearson has been steadily producing for decades. In The Markov Chain, Pearson presents a series of eight-line poems, each composed of four exquisitely crafted alexandrines: “These formal restrictions // are like benedictions . . . Constraints lead to freedoms // exceeding predictions.” Raising the ante, Pearson uses these formal constraints to probe the social constraints contemporary culture imposes on art and life. “When the People say we, // they don’t mean you and me. / The consensus they’re seeking // will set no one free.” This double take on constraints creates an animating tension throughout the book, one in which “The gist of the lyric // tells a whole other tale.” Pearson’s chiseled poems enact a deep investigation into language that at once revels in and questions its own constraints. Follow at your own pace, but Pearson’s ear, as always, won’t lead you astray.” —Paul Naylor

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848615335
Publisher:	Shearsman Books
Publication date:	04/15/2017
Pages:	68
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.16(d)

About the Author

Ted Pearson's early studies in liturgical music, modernism, and jazz led him to poetry in the mid 1960s. He attended Vandercook College of Music, Foothill College, and San Francisco State University. Recent volumes include Extant Glyphs: 1964-1980 (Singing Horse, 2014), An Intermittent Music: 1975-2010 (Chax, 2016), The Coffin Nail Blues (Atelos, 2016), and After Hours (Singing Horse, 2016). He co-authored The Grand Piano: An Experiment in Collective Autobiography (This / Mode A, 2006-2010) in ten volumes. His literary essays have been widely published, notably in Poetics Journal. He lives in southern California, where he is adjunct faculty at the University of Redlands.