A literary life

The Waldrops celebrate 40 years of the Burning Deck Press

by Johnette Rodriguez

It's not often that a grad-student literary publication takes on the established hierarchies of the academic and underground publishing worlds and lives to tell the tale. But that's exactly what happened with Burning Deck Press, founded by Rosmarie and Keith Waldrop, back in 1961, when they were comparative literature students at the University of Michigan. They bought an old press on the cheap and started turning out pamphlets, chapbooks, a magazine, and anthologies, primarily devoted to poetry.

"In 1960, two anthologies were published that claimed to represent American poetry," Keith explained, "and there was no poet that was in both of them!"

"We called it `the war of the anthologies,' " recalled Rosmarie Waldrop, with a laugh.

"There was a great deal of talk about academic poetry as opposed to beatnik poetry," Keith continued, "and we thought we would simply not take all of that into account, but publish poetry that we thought was good."

Now, 40 years in, the Waldrops' endeavor is one of the longest-surviving small presses in the country. And this week, close to 40 of Burning Deck's published authors will be in town to celebrate, with readings by at least 28 of them, openings of two art exhibits related to Burning Deck (at the Po Gallery and the Annmary Brown Memorial), and many toasts to the two people who have kept the presses rolling.

Last weekend, we sat down to a late-afternoon conversation in their East Side home, where bookshelves climb almost every wall and books huddle in groups on tables, chairs, benches, and stairs. It's a fitting atmosphere for the literary Waldrops, who have published more than 160 authors (40 of them as first books, several of them as repeaters) and have themselves written dozens of books of poetry, fiction, criticism, and translation.

Since they came to Providence in 1968, Keith has held a job in academe, as a professor of English, comparative literature, and creative writing at Brown. He has translated The Selected Poems of Edmond Jabés as well as many other contemporary French poets. Publishers' Weekly has said he is "among the most important writers, translators and publishers of avant-garde literature in our time." Last April, the French government awarded both Waldrops the rank of Chevalier of Arts and Letters, for their lifetime contributions to French literature.

Between their years in Michigan and in Providence, the Waldrops lived in Connecticut, where Rosmarie taught for two years at Wesleyan. She, too, has translated numerous books from French and also from German. She is currently curating a series of public readings of contemporary poetry at the Providence Athenaeum, through a fellowship from the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Foundation.

Her most recent book is Reluctant Gravities (New Directions, 1999), and the Village Voice has referred to her as an "influential avant-garde doyenne" with a "distinctly American voice," and Robert Creeley has termed her "a very exceptional poet." Thus, during her three decades in Providence, Rosmarie has primarily devoted herself to her own writing and to her job as Burning Deck's chief editor and publisher.

With Rosmarie constantly scouting here and abroad for interesting poets and for writers in the borderline genres between poetry and prose, there has never been a shortage of manuscripts for Burning Deck to consider. Early on, the Waldrops knew that their focus would be little-known poets and writers whom the big publishers would not pick up.

"After the first 10 years," Keith elaborated, "we started publishing some fiction and most recently we've published quite a few translations, including a French series and a German series."

Their emphasis has also shifted more and more toward "experimental work," which Rosmarie defines as "investigative or exploratory -- the sense that it's not somebody writing the perfect sonnet or not trying to fulfill something that already exists but they're out to explore new territory."

Thus, Burning Deck's most recent titles include the minimalist narratives of Alison Bundy (DunceCap); the inventively structured poems of Brown creative writing professor Gale Nelson (ceteris paribus); the deceptively detached descriptions in Jane Unrue's The House; Lisa Jarnot's prose poems and collage poems, many with text pasted on top of handwritten and scratched-out documents (Some Other Kind of Mission); an edition of writings about writing by French authors, compiled by Norma Cole (Crosscut Universe); Claude Royet-Journoud's poem, i.e., translated by Keith Waldrop; and Reft and Light, a thoroughly entertaining book, edited by Rosmarie, of the late Ernst Jandl's punning, concrete poems, in which 35 writers offer multiple "translations" of his work (in German-speaking countries, "to jandl" has become a verb).

In the early years, Burning Deck did try to publish a famous poet, such as Robert Creeley or John Hawkes, now and again, on the mistaken assumption that people would take the press more seriously and buy other titles if they bought the ones by well-known authors.

"They bought the Creeley but they never bought the others," sighed Keith.

Thus, the financial course charted by Burning Deck has not always been smooth sailing. Fortunately, the National Endowment for the Arts was just getting underway around the time the Waldrops came to Providence, and the organization was very interested in grassroots presses, so they encouraged Burning Deck to apply for a grant, and they received NEA funding for several years. Since then, there have been many lean times, however, and Burning Deck is currently drifting close to shore on the sale of 38 years of their archives to the John Hay Library at Brown.

The Waldrops' choice of name and logo may never have seemed more appropriate. Felicia Hemans's early 19th-century saga Casabianca gave us the immortal lines, "the boy stood on the burning deck," based on the son of Napoleon's captain, Casabianca, who was on his father's ship during the Battle of the Nile. In the poem, the boy keeps calling out, "Father, must I stay?"

"We felt kind of like this at the press," Keith chuckled. "And we had a pretty good idea from the beginning that that was the way it would go."

In keeping with cost-cutting measures, they now rarely do the printing of their books themselves, because their presses are designed for printing only two pages at a time, and there are no linotypers left in Rhode Island. It's cheaper for them to do the typesetting by computer and send it off to a printer and binder in Michigan. Keith does, however, still do most of the cover designs for Burning Deck, and Rosmarie does most of the typesetting.

They themselves are surprised to still be around after 40 years, when many of the presses that started in the same era have disappeared. They have, however, seen a resurgence in small presses over the last decade, primarily in California-both of Keith's newest books have found publishers out there, including Haunt by Instance Press.

They are pleased that the work of Burning Deck has encouraged other people to start presses and that they have been able to publish so many local writers.

"That has made their work available here," Rosmarie emphasized, "because small-press titles are not usually found in the bookstores, except locally."

Overall, the rewards of running Burning Deck have far outweighed the frustrations for its publishers. When asked which titles they're proudest of, Keith responds drolly, "Well, there's some books we still like." And Rosmarie talks avidly about watching poets like Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (winner of the Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award in 1984) and Lyn Hejinian (a leader in the Language Group movement) develop and grow, as the poetry scene in America remains, in her words, "lively, a little chaotic sometimes, but very lively."

Rosmarie also mentions the sense of community developed among writers through Burning Deck: "It was getting out of myself and my own writing and trying to do something for other writers in a larger way."

"I feel good about having helped some people," she mused. "We encouraged the right directions in some writers. And that has offset the drudgery and the work."

The fruits of that labor will be present this week, in the exhibits of Burning Deck books and related art and in the readings by Burning Deck authors. With writers pouring into town from as far away as the West Coast and Paris, we in Rhode Island should take advantage of the opportunity to hear them and to salute the Waldrops.

Burning Deck:A 40-Year Anniversary Tribute will take place March 19-21. The events: On March 19 from 3-5 p.m., an opening of works by Selena Kimball, Claude Royet-Hournoud, and Keith Waldrop at Po Gallery, 10 Dorrance St., Providence. Call 273-9144. March 19 at 8 p.m.: Tom Ahern, Forrest Gander, Peter Gizzi, Jaimy Gordon, Lyn Hejinian, and Margaret Johnson will read from their poetry and fiction at Brown University's Salomon Center for Teaching, on the College Green. On March 20 at 1 p.m.: a reception and exhibition of a selection from the Burning Deck Archives, at the Annmary Brown Memorial, 21 Brown St., Providence. On March 20 at 2 p.m.: Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Damon Krukowski, Jackson Mac Low, Gale Nelson, Ray Ragosta, and Jane Unrue will read from their poetry and fiction at the Annmary Brown Memorial. On March 20 at 8 p.m.: Susan Gevirtz, Barbara Guest, Edwin Honig, Lisa Jarnot, Mark McMorris, and Xue Di will read from their poetry and fiction at the Salomon Center for Teaching. On March 21 at 2 p.m.: Alison Bundy, Michael Gizzi, Harry Mathews, Claude Royet-Journoud, Cole Swensen, and Craig Watson will read from their work in the Annmary Brown Memorial. On March 21 at 8 p.m.: X.J. Kennedy and Dallas Wiebe and Burning Deck founders Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop will read from their work. Admission is free. Call 863-3265. ("Forty Years of Burning Deck Press," an exhibit of materials from the Archive and the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, is at the Annmary Brown Memorial through April 6.)d his friend "Gypsy Lou" Webb. "In a way, he was a beautiful, ugly man."