Will Alexander (poet)

Will Alexander (Poet) (born 1948) is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and visual artist. He was the recipient of a Whiting Fellowship for Poetry in 2001 and a California Arts Council Fellowship in 2002. Over the years he has worked several jobs (including the LA Lakers box office), taught at various institutions, and has been associated with the nonprofit organization Theatre of Hearts/Youth First, working with underserved, at-risk youth.

Alexander’s poetry and his visual art have been greatly influenced by his readings of Bob Kaufman, Octavio Paz, and Francophone Negritude writers such as Aimé Cesaire and Jean-Joseph Rabéarivelo. Alexander describes their themes of cosmic isolation from society and interior discovery as an “alchemical metamorphosis.” Much of Alexander’s work is characterized by this powerful mix of metaphor and sophisticated language.

Works

• Vertical Rainbow Climber. Jazz Press, 1987
• Archane Lavender Morals. Leave Books, 1994
• The Stratospheric Canticles. Pantograph Press, 1995
• Asia & Haiti. Sun & Moon Press, 1995
• Above the Human Nerve Domain. Pavement Saw Press, 1998
• Towards the Primeval Lightening Field. O Books, 1998
• Exobiology as Goddess. Manifest Press, 2005. ISBN 9780967388588
• Sunrise In Armageddon. Spuyten Duyvil Press. 2006. ISBN 9781933132174
• The Sri Lankan Loxodrome. New Directions Publishing, 2010
• Compression & Purity (City Lights, 2011). ISBN 9780872865419
• Diary As Sin. Skylight Press, 2011. ISBN 9781908011138
• Inside the Earthquake Palace: 4 Plays. Chax Press, 2011. ISBN 9780925904898
• Kaleidoscopic Omniscience: The Stratospheric Canticles / Asia & Haiti / Impulse & Nothingness. Skylight Press, 2012. ISBN 9781908011497

References

• Bio at the Poetry Foundation Homepage

External Links

• Sound recordings of Will Alexander's verse published in the University of Pennsylvania's poetry archive, PennSound
• Review of Diary As Sin published in The Prague Post