Jeff Russell
with Joseph Donahue, Laura Jaramillo,
& Marta Nunez Pouzols
Click here to view a selection from By the Time this Reaches You
and listen to the multi-voiced sequence below
About the Project
I originally visualized By the Time this Reaches You as a 2 x 120-foot vertical scroll. My use of space and multiple voices was influenced by the study of classical Chinese poetry. More specifically, the form of this work developed from a long series of failed attempts to translate Wang Wei’s poem “鹿柴,” frequently translated over the years as “Deer Park.” While I never translated “Deer Park” or what I titled “The Enclosure” to my satisfaction, these experiments made their way into my own writing. Kongbai and similar Chinese aesthetic concepts such as 留空 (liukong, leaving blanks) influenced not only the poem-space in which the words are laid out, but also the multi-vocal echoes. I had become accustomed to this process through countless translation experiments in which I attempted to invoke an increased multiplicity of ideas and feelings beyond a word’s primary meaning.
This selection is the second half of the opening multi-voiced sequence from By the Time this Reaches You forthcoming from Selva Obscura Press.
Jeff Russell is a poet living in Durham, North Carolina. He studied Creative Writing at the University of Arizona and Classical Chinese literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is on the advisory board for Jackleg Press. This submission will be published in Jeff's first book to be published by Selva Obscura. Selections of this work won the innovative writing award from Miracle Monocle and have been published in Entropy and Dream Pop Press.
Joseph Donahue is an American poet, critic, and editor. He was born in Texas and grew up in Massachusetts. He currently teaches at Duke University and lives in Durham, NC. His poetry collections include Red Flash on a Black Field (2015, Black Square Editions), Dark Church (2015, Verge Books), Dissolves (2012, Talisman House), Terra Lucida (2012, Talisman House), and Infinite Criteria (2022, Black Square Editions).
Laura Jaramillo is a poet and critic from Queens, New York living in Durham, North Carolina. Her books include Material Girl (subpress, 2012) and Making Water (Futurepoem, 2022). She holds a PhD in critical theory from Duke University. She co-runs the North Carolina-based reading and performance series Paradiso.
Marta Nunez Pouzols is a writer and translator from the South of Spain living in North Carolina. Together with Maia Morosano, she is the co-author of Pronombres siderales (Turba, 2019.) Her poems can be found in La bella Varsovia, Lute & Drum, Telegráfica, and DREGINALD (forthcoming.) She co-curates the reading series Paradiso in Chapel Hill, NC.