These video clips are the part of a series highlighting recent readings held by SF State’s Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives. Visit this website regularly for fresh poetic content.
Roberto Tejada introduces then reads George Oppen’s poem “Eclogue,” from The Materials (New Directions/San Francisco Review, 1962), as part of his lecture “Assault on the Quiet Continent: Oppen in Mexico,” delivered December 12, 2015, as the 31st annual George Oppen Memorial Lecture for The Poetry Center, San Francisco State University, at the Unitarian Center, San Francisco.
Roberto Tejada prefaces then relates the story, from Mary Oppen’s autobiography Meaning a Life (Black Sparrow Press, 1978), of George Oppen’s dream and its interpretation by a Mexican psychologist, which led directly to George resuming writing poetry after many years away from that practice. Tejada’s talk, “Assault on the Quiet Continent: Oppen in Mexico,” was delivered December 12, 2015, as the 31st annual George Oppen Memorial Lecture, for The Poetry Center, San Francisco State University, at the Unitarian Center, San Francisco.