I Never Knew what Time it was

“The poems in this volume are unforgettable. Richly funny, elegiac, philosophical, contentious, filled with astonishing stories and bizarre characters—some of the finest writing by today’s most compelling poet.”—Gerald Bruns, author of The Material of Poetry: Sketches for a Philosophical Poetics

“These talk poems bring the reader face to face with a great mind. I could hardly bring myself to put the book down.”—Hannah Higgins, author of Fluxus Experience

“Just keep talking, like they say, and with luck and genius maybe you’ll get to be like extraordinary David Antin. Not only was he there, wherever—which is a very large place indeed—but he can tell you just what happened. I must believe it’s all in knowing how to listen.”—Robert Creeley, author of If I Were Writing This

“For thirty years now, David Antin has been producing fascinating meditations that he calls ‘talk poems.’ Beginning in actual talk, they take their textual form from strenuous thinking about a given set of puzzles or problems, tackling “ideas” via narrative networks, as poignant and profound as they are hilarious. The situations are always taken from everyday life, but the mode is one of intense defamiliarization. In these, the most recent of his ruminations on time, space and human fallibility, Antin shows himself, once again, to be our truest philosopher-poet.”—Marjorie Perloff, author of Wittgenstein’s Ladder

“David Antin has been one of our savviest cultural critics for over four decades. In i never knew what time it was Antin takes us on a voyage through his mind. Get on board for a lively and insightful trip.”—Irving Sandler, art critic, historian, and author of A Sweeper-Up After Artists: A Memoir