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what it would be. I wanted to do it with the simplest elements." In other instances, Lax used repetition of a few words either as a device for instilling a sense of serenity or to create a sense of surprise in the reader when a change in the pattern occurs. Despite the limited vocabulary of his poems, some create narratives, while others seem more like examples for use in meditative practice or even spiritual discipline. This can be experienced in the tape made of a 1974 performance of Lax's poems given by himself and Robert Wolf in 1974, resembling an uninflected incantation. When Mark Van Doren expressed his doubt about Lax's change in direction, the poet suggested that he might appreciate them more by reading them aloud in this way.
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Karen
Alexander comments on Lax's 1985 "Dark Earth Bright Sky", in which just those four words are repeated in different permutations: "We could not be more familiar with the simple contrasting elements in this poem, but we often allow the clutter of our lives to obscure our awareness of them. Lax
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On another occasion he explained the creation of thin vertical columns of a few numbers or a single capital letter as arising from the wish to adopt the methods of abstract painters, "trying to find what the essence for me of a traditional poem is, and getting it down to that. . . . I wanted to see
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with the poet, is quoted as commenting on Lax, "To the best of my knowledge, a saint is simply all the things that he is. If you placed him among the Old
Testament figures above the south portal of Chartres, he wouldn't look odd." But although his output embodies a spiritual outlook, Lax was not a
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in Harlem. Lax converted from
Judaism to Catholicism in 1943, five years after Thomas Merton, and Rice was godfather to both men. But Lax desired a simple life, so he wandered, working in circuses in Canada as a clown and expert juggler. It was travelling with the Cristiani Brothers circus in 1949
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staff: "Taller than them all, and more serious, with a long face, like a horse, and a great mane of black hair on top of it, Bob Lax meditated on some incomprehensible woe." Mark Van Doren has commented that "The woe, I now believe, was that Lax could not state his bliss; his love of the world and
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is composed of thin bars of those colors. In an interview with
Nicholas Zurbrugg, Lax later commented on his adoption of minimalist abstraction that "conversations with Reinhardt, and his directions in painting, certainly had an influence on my writing. Sometimes not specifically, but the general
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Lax wrote hundreds of poems and dozens of books in his long career, but never reached the level of recognition that some of his peers say he deserves. Jack
Kerouac, whom he knew in New York, called Lax "one of the great original voices of our times ...a Pilgrim in search of beautiful innocence".
272:, a Franciscan institution near Olean, and became its first Reginald A. Lenna Visiting Professor of English, spending three weeks giving readings on campus. The university now houses the main Robert Lax archives. Additional collections of his papers are at Columbia and Georgetown University.
257:, where he spent his last years. Seeking relative solitude, Lax said it was important to "put yourself in a place where Grace can flow." The 1962-67, correspondence of Lax and Merton, written in a kind of comic argot, covered his early years in Greece and was first published as
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Specialist presses supported such gestures and brought out limited editions, such as the series of hand-written color poems that appeared as silkscreens from
Edizioni Francesco Conz. Even words were dispensed with in some of the 1971 publications from Journeyman Press.
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meditates upon them and presents them anew… This is truly essential poetry, poetry with its roots deep in the universal foundation of the human consciousness". And Ryo
Yamaguchi, in drawing a parallel between Lax's poetry and the minimalist procedures in the art of
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using only nine colour-words and 'and'. This, as it was later arranged by John Beer, was to be performed by a chorus of nine to fifteen people. Since 2014 there have been performances by the Los
Angeles-based Readers Chorus.
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Harford (2006) quoted Lax as stating that he engaged in "Formal meditation, yes, every day, for a half an hour.... the book I'm trying to follow.... I've been doing it now for three or four years.... It's called
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He moved back to Olean in 2000, leaving Europe by ship from
Southampton, accompanied by his niece and her husband, as he would not travel by air. Shortly after, on September 26, 2000, he died at age 84.
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Between 2011 and 2015 there have also been four visual interpretations of Lax poems by German animator
Susanne Wiegner, three of them based on readings by Lax and another interpreting the printed text.
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hailed it as "perhaps the greatest English-language poem of this century." An excerpt was later distributed to those attending Lax's funeral at St. Bonaventure University on 29 September 29, 2000.
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351:(1968). Lax certainly shared an interest in artistic procedures with his friend Ad Reinhardt and reflected that artist's series of black paintings in his own "Homage to Reinhardt":
331:. Sometimes these pieces consisted of single words, even single syllables, running page after page. As a consequence his work was perceived as sharing the characteristics of
327:, Lax's poetry became more and more stripped down to essentials, concentrating on simplicity and making the most out of the fewest components, a technique common to artistic
147:, to Sigmund and Rebecca Lax. His father had immigrated to the United States from Austria at the age of sixteen. When Robert was in eighth grade, the family moved to
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on nine texts of Robert Lax, described as a 65-minute pilgrimage for unaccompanied choir. The following year it was released commercially by Navona Records.
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direction that he was working in certainly did—towards reducing the number of colours, reducing the form, and repeating the theme."
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1037:.... I've done it now for three years whether I'm traveling on trains or wherever. I do it for half an hour anyway..." (p. 273).
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In 1969, Lax received the National Council of the Arts Award. In 1990 he received an honorary doctorate from
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115:(November 30, 1915 – September 26, 2000) was an American poet, known in particular for his association with
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During his final years on Patmos, Lax was the subject of Nicolas Hubert and Werner Penzel's 1999 film,
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A Line in Three Circles. The Inner Biography of Robert Lax & A Comprehensive Catalog of His Works
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Finding aid to Robert Lax papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
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doctrinaire writer. He owed as much to eastern as to western systems of spirituality.
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magazine (to which all three men contributed in the 1950s and '60s) and Ad Reinhardt.
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Merton and friends: A joint biography of Thomas Merton, Robert Lax and Edward Rice
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with a classmate who became a close lifetime friend, Thomas Merton. Others on the
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Whittaker, Richard. "Remembering Robert Lax—A Conversation with Steve Georgiou",
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in 1978. Later, their correspondence over the years 1938–68 was published as
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When Prophecy Still Had a Voice: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Robert Lax
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during the latter part of his life. Considered by some to be a self-exiled
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A 2015 Readers Chorus rendition of Robert Lax's "Black White Oratorio" on
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Karen Alexander, "The Abstract Minimalist Poetry of Robert Lax",
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magazine, wrote screenplays in Hollywood, and taught at both the
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consists of graph paper filled in with colored squares, while
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779:"Robert Lax, 84, Minimalist Poet Known for Experimental Forms"
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in New York City, where he studied with the poet and critic
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Why Should I Buy a Bed When All I Want Is Sleep? You Tube
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that enabled him to generate material for his collection
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A choral setting of "Jerusalem" from The Arc in the Sky
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Hirschfield, Robert. "Robert Lax: A Life slowly Lived",
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all things grew within it; the sphere then encompassed
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Robert Lax.com (McGregor's website dedicated to Lax)
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308:And in the beginning was love. Love made a sphere:
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203:After graduating in 1938, Lax joined the staff of
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1046:Harford (2006) stated that "In his last year on
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314:had a compass whose whirling dance traced out a
312:beginnings and endings, beginning and end. Love
277:Why Should I Buy a Bed When All I Want Is Sleep?
1201:, PoetryFoundation.org. Accessed April 5, 2024.
817:"Bard of God's Circus: in search of Robert Lax"
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417:For several years, Lax practiced the method of
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540:"Kalymnos: November 29, 1968", an 11-part poem
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323:Over the years following the composition of
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1210:, newyorker.com. Accessed April 5, 2024.
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1063:"David Bellingham Curates Robert Lax",
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726:, University Press of Kentucky, 2001.
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1274:American people of Austrian descent
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341:Poetry: An International Anthology
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873:Silkscreen on cloth, 1991
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662:The Seven Storey Mountain
555:The Peacemaker's Handbook
517:, The Overlook Press 2000
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895:The ABCs of Robert Lax
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601:List of American poets
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246:
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196:
192:
190:
185:
177:
171:
161:
153:Ad Reinhardt
142:
125:Ad Reinhardt
112:
111:
57:(2000-09-26)
18:
1229:2000 deaths
1224:1915 births
395:Steve Reich
387:Donald Judd
370:Mostly Blue
180:staff were
91:Occupations
68:Nationality
1218:Categories
1142:pp.110–124
1077:SoundCloud
1030:Meditation
1016:0826418694
937:SoundCloud
612:References
447:Kile Smith
419:meditation
347:'s study,
329:minimalism
113:Robert Lax
37:1915-11-30
25:Robert Lax
971:June 2015
471:New Poems
449:composed
247:New Story
103:professor
1052:Easwaran
1007:69020975
862:pp.70–71
790:June 14,
579:See also
482:33 Poems
445:In 2018
407:33 Poems
295:Creation
251:Kalymnos
117:Trappist
71:American
846:Ubu Web
606:Hermits
488:Rooster
284:Writing
243:Jubilee
186:Jubilee
182:Ed Rice
1170:
1154:
1048:Patmos
1014:
1005:
995:
559:, 2001
502:(2000)
496:(1997)
490:(1991)
484:(1988)
473:(1962)
467:(1959)
255:Patmos
197:Jester
178:Jester
173:Jester
133:hermit
129:Patmos
100:editor
97:writer
858:Views
666:p.197
638:p. 10
1168:ISBN
1152:ISBN
1012:ISBN
1003:OCLC
993:ISBN
792:2024
565:Less
557:#1–4
393:and
219:and
212:Time
139:Life
52:Died
31:Born
935:at
227:'s
1220::
1001:.
977:^
931:,
819:,
781:.
754:^
684:^
644:^
567:#2
265:.
159:.
84:BA
1009:.
969:,
794:.
86:)
82:(
39:)
35:(
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