The Tablets

Poetry. THE TABLETS takes its place as a worthy successor of the great American long poems of our century: Pound's Cantos, Williams' Paterson, Olson's Maximus, Zukofsky's A. The first edition, published in 1968, included eight tablets. Over the years, THE TABLETS continued to grow. The present edition is the first to include all twenty-seven tablets that Schwerner had completed at the time of his death, along with the poet's own commentary on the work in the form of Journals/Divagations. This edition also includes a CD of Schwerner reading extensive selections of THE TABLETS. Schwerner's poem mimics the conventions observed in real scholarly editions of ancient cuneiform texts ... THE TABLETS is a Chinese-box puzzle, in place of a primal scene of archeological insight, a game of hide-and-seek, in place of 'knowledge,' uncertainty, speculation, make-believe and trompe l'oeil effects--Brian McHale.