Rachel Blau DuPlessis’s 2008 and 2009 Tapa Notebook — page 11
[ Text: 1 JAN 2009 / Is is possible to write the poem/ and its double? that is —construct / ALL of the final book of Drafts / as 2 books — the actual one and / its ‘other’ — its ‘shadow’ — its / ‘double’. The poem to the side — / something shorter — more open & porous / more evanescent. — a disappearance into / language and the air. /
- or any number of others /
- gloss /
- hinge /
- ‘wheel’ at end /
- commentary of any sort /
- citations /
- ‘summary’ ]
RBD gloss: In fact, at least in my view, all of the poems in the ‘final’ book of Drafts were written in some kind of double mode.
To see a larger version of each page, double-click on it, or right-click and choose appropriately. Links: front, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07L, 07R, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, back.
These are scans of pages of a Tapa Notebook, filled out by American poet Rachel Blau DuPlessis for the University of Auckland Library. It ponders Rachel’s experiences writing in 2008 and 2009. For more of this backstory, see here. The word ‘tapa’ refers to the kind of dyed patterned cloth (made from the paper mulberry tree) shown left, and on the front cover of the notebook, an honorable practice popular in Polynesia. (See Wikipedia) Most spreads of this notebook have a blank verso (left hand page), except for 7L and 7R. Bank verso pages are not shown; usually only the recto (right hand) page is shown.
University of Auckland nzepc records. MSS & Archives 2003 / 4, 3 / 13. Special Collections, University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services. Copyright Notice: Please respect the fact that all the material on this site is copyright © Rachel Blau DuPlessis and the individual authors 2012 et seq. It is made available here without charge for personal study and enjoyment by individuals only. It may not be stored, displayed, published, reproduced, or used for any other purpose.