Miscanthus. Selected and New Poems

Anthony Barnett is like no other poet of his generation yet both his elliptical lyrics and his work in longer spans should be part of the current consensus of what consitutes our modern poetry. The Resting Bell collected most of his work up to 1987. Further volumes, some of which include prose pieces, followed. His work was included in the anthologies A Various Art, Poets on Writing: Britain 1970--1991 and Other: British and Irish Poetry Since 1970. The present volume selects from previously published collections, reprinting several in their entirety, and includes some new writing. For a number of years, his editorial work at Allardyce, Barnett, Publishers took attention away from his own writing: he published the original collected editions of J. H. Prynne and Douglas Oliver, and edited Veronica Forrest-Thomson's Collected Poems and Translations. His translations include volumes by Anne-Marie Albiach, Roger Giroux, Pär Lagerkvist, Tarjei Vesaas and Andrea Zanzotto. During the 1970s in particular, he worked as a percussionist, recording and broadcasting with John Tchicai and occasionally performing with such musicians as Derek Bailey, Don Cherry, Mbizo Dyani and Evan Parker. His research in music history includes bio-discographies of African-American violinists and editorship of the journal Fable Bulletin: Violin Improvisation Studies. Miscanthus is a long-overdue survey of his poetry, providing an opportunity for new readers to get to know his singular art.