On Rich’s recommendation, I recently found myself a nice used copy of The Spanish American Roots of William Carlos Williams by Julio Marzán.
I’ve always found it interesting that the Puerto Rican heritage of one of the premiere modernist seems to be terribly overlooked and I hope this book sheds more light on that subject.
With time being such a commodity right now, I have taken to listening to audio files of William Carlos Williams and can say that I am officially a fan of his live readings. Ok, for a second I was thrown for a loop by his 1940s newsreel announcer voice, but once I got over that I was floored by his reading style and his commentaries on process.
More to come later after I have listened to all the audio files, read the book and (oh yeah) read more of his poetry.