Barbara Guest, ''née'' Barbara Ann Pinson (September 6, 1920 – February 15, 2006), was an

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q * George Quasha (born 1942) R S T U–V ...

and prose stylist. Guest first gained recognition as a member of the first generation New York School of poetry. Guest wrote more than 15 books of poetry spanning sixty years of writing. In 1999, she was awarded the

Frost Medal The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

for Lifetime Achievement by the

Poetry Society of America The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...

. Guest also wrote art criticism, essays, and plays. Her collages appeared on the covers of several of her books of poetry. She was also well known for her biography of the poet H.D., ''Herself Defined: The Poet H.D. and Her World'' (1984). Born in

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

and raised in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, Guest attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, and then earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in General Curriculum-Humanities in 1943 at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

. She worked as an editorial associate at

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countr ...

magazine from 1951-1959.

Poetry

Barbara Guest wrote more than 15 books of poetry spanning sixty years of writing. "Her poems begin in the midst of action," wrote Peter Gizzi in his introduction to a collection of her work, "but their angle of perception is oblique." Her poems are known for their abstract quality, vivid language, and intellectualism. She believed that the subject of the poem finds itself through the writing of the poem and through the poet's imagination. "Disturbing the conventional relations of subjects and objects, of reality and imagination, is one of Guest's signature gestures," noted Gizzi. Among her most well-known poems ar
"Parachutes, My Love, Could Carry Us Higher," (MP3)"Wild Gardens Overlooked by Night Lights, (MP3)""Roses,"
an
"Photographs."

Quotes

Selected bibliography

*''The Location of Things'' (Tibor de Nagy, 1960) *''Poems: The Location of Things, Archaics, The Open Skies'' (Doubleday & Company, 1962) *''The Open Skies'' (1962) *''The Blue Stairs'' (Corinth Books, 1968) *''Moscow Mansions'' (Viking, 1973) *''The Countess from Minneapolis'' ( Burning Deck Press, 1976) *''Seeking Air'' ( Black Sparrow, 1977; reprint, Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1997; Grand Iota, 2021) *''The Türler Losses'' (Montréal: Mansfield Book Mart, 1979) *''Biography'' (Burning Deck, 1980) *''Quilts'' (Vehicle Edition, 1981) *''Herself Defined: The Poet H. D. and Her World'' (Doubleday & Company, 1984) *''Fair Realism'' (Sun & Moon Press, 1989) *''Musicality'' (1988) *''Defensive Rapture'' (Sun & Moon Press, 1993) *''Selected Poems'' (Sun & Moon Press, 1995) *''Quill Solitary, Apparition'' (The Post-Apollo Press, 1996) *''Seeking Air'' (Sun & Moon Press, 1997) *''Etruscan Reader VI'' (with

Robin Blaser Robin Francis Blaser (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an author and poet in both the United States and Canada. Personal background Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1944. There he met Jack ...

and

Lee Harwood Lee Harwood (6 June 1939 – 26 July 2015) was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival. Life Travers Rafe Lee Harwood was born in Leicester to maths teacher Wilfred Travers Lee-Harwood and Grace Ladkin Harwood, who were then living ...

) (

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

) *''Rocks on a Platter'' (Wesleyan, 1999) *''If So, Tell Me'' (Reality Street Editions, UK, 1999) *''The Confetti Trees'' (Sun & Moon, 1999) *''Symbiosis'' (Berkeley: Kelsey Street Press, 2000) *''Miniatures and Other Poems'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2002) *''Forces of Imagination: Writing on Writing'' (Kelsey Street Press, 2003) *''Durer in the Window: Reflexions on Art'' (Roof Books, 2003) *''The Red Gaze'' (Wesleyan University Press, 2005) *''Fallschirme, Gebliebter. Ausgewählte Gedichte'' (German, Bilingual Edition, luxbooks, 2008) * ''The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest'' (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2008)

Collaborative books

Note: the source for this section is from "Introducing Barbara Guest" by

Charles Bernstein Charles Bernstein may refer to: * Charles Bernstein (composer) (born 1943), American composer of film and television scores * Charles Bernstein (poet) Charles Bernstein (born April 4, 1950) is an American poet, essayist, editor, and literary sc ...

, appended in a footnote to the transcript by John Tranter *''I Ching'', with Sheila Isham (Paris, France: Mourlot Art Editions, 1969) *''Musicality'', with June Felter
Kelsey Street Press
, 1988) *''The Nude'', Warren Brandt (Art Editions, New York, 1989 *''The Altos'', with artist

Richard Tuttle Richard Dean Tuttle (born July 12, 1941) is an American postminimalist artist known for his small, casual, subtle, intimate works. His art makes use of scale and line. His works span a range of formats, from sculpture, painting, drawing, printma ...

(San Francisco: Hank Hine Publisher, 1993) *''Stripped Tales'', with artist Anne Dunn (Berkeley, California
Kelsey Street Press
, 1995) *''Strings'', with artist Ann Slacik (Paris, France, 1999) *''The Luminous'', with artist Jane Moorman (Palo Alto, California, 1999) *''Symbiosis'', with artist

Laurie Reid Laurie Reid (born 1964) is an American artist living in Berkeley, California. Early life and education She was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in Eugene, Oregon. She attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon where she studied Frenc ...

first exhibited at the Whitney Museum, New York City, in the Spring of 2000
Kelsey Street Press
, 2000)

External links

'Weather and Cinnamon: Late Changes in Major Poems by Barbara Guest'
''Cordite Poetry Review'' * * * *

A gathering of brief memoirs and BG poems (selected by her readers) to honor the life and writing of Barbara Guest

at poetry magazine "Intercapillary Space"
''Chicago Review'' special issue
on Guest
"Add-Verse" a poetry-photo-video project Guest participated in
* - this is a link to "selections" from "The gendered marvelous...", an essay by

Rachel Blau DuPlessis Rachel Blau DuPlessis (born December 14, 1941) is an American poet and essayist, known as a feminist critic and scholar with a special interest in modernist and contemporary poetry. Her work has been widely anthologized. Early life DuPlessis w ...

“Selfish Enchantments”: Barbara Guest and the Nature of Arrangement
This essay by U.S. poet

Ben Lerner Benjamin S. Lerner (born February 4, 1979) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, and critic. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the National Book Award, a finalist for the National Bo ...

first appeared in

New American Writing ''New American Writing'' is an annual American literary magazine emphasizing contemporary American poetry, including a range of innovative contemporary writing. ''New American Writing'' is published by OINK! Press, a nonprofit organization. The ...

, number 27
Barbara Guest on Penn Sound.
Extensive archive of recordings and interviews with Barbara Guest. * Barbara Guest Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guest, Barbara 20th-century American poets Modernist women writers New York School poets 1920 births 2006 deaths Writers from Wilmington, North Carolina American women poets 20th-century American women writers University of California, Berkeley alumni Poets from California PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners 21st-century American women