Robin Blaser

May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009

"The poems of the Holy Forest are points on a map of a cosmos that does not exist in historical terms, that cannot exist, yet that must exist, if we are to make it to a Century 22 that is more than the name of a clothing store. The points form a constellation that we are not quite ready to apprehend but through which we are already formed. We grope and we stumble, but then, out of the blue or black or ultra suede, something unexpected happens: we are ensnared by the encounter."
--Charles Bernstein

"the last words in Robin's The Holy Forest: 'language is love.' much as he could rail against the misuses of language, the terrible injustices we inflict on one another, he worked always towards that open potential that pure-pitch words can offer, the sheer loving openness of a mirroring intelligence in language. now his 'window-heart' has shattered & we have lost a great spirit. so thankful his words live on."
--Daphne Marlatt


Books of Poetry:

The Moth Poem (San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1964)

Les Chimères: Translations of Nerval for Fran Herndon (San Francisco: Open Space, 1969)

Cups (San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1968)

Image Nations 1-12 & The Stadium of the Mirror (London: Ferry Press, 1974)

Image Nations 13 & 14, Luck Unluck Oneluck, Sky-stone, Suddenly, Gathering (North Vancouver: Cobblestone Press, 1975)

Harp Trees (Vancouver: Sun Stone House & Cobblestone Press, 1977)

Image Nation 15: The Lacquerhouse (Vancouver: W. Hoffer, 1981)

Syntax (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1983)

The Faerie Queene and The Park (Vancouver: Fissure Books, 1987)

Pell Mell (Toronto: Coach House Press, 1988)

The Holy Forest (Toronto: Coach House Press, 1993)

Nomad (Vancouver: Slug Press, 1995)

Wanders, with Meredith Quartermain (Vancouver: Nomados, 2002)

EPC Resources
Readings at Pennsound
Persky on Blaser