February 1, 2012
—It is with profound sadness that we announce that brilliant poet and visual artist Dorothea Tanning, author of A Table of Content and Coming to That, passed away in her sleep last night. She was 101 years old.
"All of us at Graywolf Press note with sadness the death of Dorothea Tanning," said senior editor Jeffrey Shotts. "We are honored to have published her two poetry books, the first of which was published when she was 94 and the second of which was published just last fall when she turned 101. As she herself remarked, with her usual wry self-awareness, she was 'the oldest emerging poet.' The fact that she could have such an illustrious career as a visual artist and, so late in that career, then turn to poetry with such forceful craft and signature imagination is a triumph of her unparalleled vision and indomitable spirit. Working with her over two books has been one of the greatest delights of my career as an editor. Knowing her these last ten years will remain one of the signposts of my life. She is missed."
ARTIST, ONCE
That was in a room for rent.
It had a window and a bed,
it was enough for dreaming,
for stunning facts like being
at last, and undeniably
in NYC, enough to hold
enfolded as in pregnancy,
those not-yet-painted works
to be. They, hanging fire,
slow to come—to come
out—being deep inside her,
oozing metamorphosis
in her warm dark, took
their time and promised.
Fast forward. Trapped in now,
she's not all that sure.
Compared to what entwined
her mind before the test,
before the raw achievement
pat, secure—oh, such bounty
to be lived, yet untasted,
undefined—all the rest . . .
“Charles Simic has performed a great service by
reminding us, precisely at this moment of turmoil and destruction, that ‘there
are still poets and beautiful poems to be discovered and read with lasting
pleasure in this vile old world.’”
By Jane Kenyon "Jane Kenyon is our Akhmatova. She will be read and remembered here as
Akhmatova is read and remembered over there. For this we give no thanks
because the gift is beyond thanks. But how deeply we are
indebted!" —Hayden Carruth
By Molly McQuade "No poet will read this book without learning something new about the
nuances of the craft, and no critic will read it without realizing the
need for such liveliness." —Library Journal