Stephen Ratcliffe: October 2, 2014

After aknowledging the anonymous judge's statement for the Poetry Center Book Award and describing the work in outline, Stephen Ratcliffe reads poems from his Selected Days, itself a selection of poems from a six-volume durational project of daily poems started in 1998. He reads the last five poems of each volume included in the book, beginning with poems from Portraits and Repetitons, "5/24"–"5/29," and finishing with poems from Temporality, "12/31"–"1/4." After that he reads from his most recent manuscript, with photos taken from his home in Bolinas projected behind him. 

In response to questions from the audience, Stephen Ratcliffe describes the relation between the projected images and the last set of poems he read. This leads into a conversation about perspective and repetition that centers on his use of the grid to frame the photographs, the way the photographs change despite the consistency of time and location, and the Agnes Martin influenced grid-like organization of the poems on the page. Ratcliffe then speaks about finding comfort in the repetition of lines and in the ongoing nature of the series, as well as discussing the feasibility of publishing thousand-page books. Finally he describes his writing process, how he wakes up at dawn, takes the photographs shortly after getting up, and then writes his daily poem.