used books

Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry edited by J.D. McClatchy
why I bought it: I’ve been wanting to read it for a long time, even though I’m not much of a fan of J.D. McClatchy; at $6 the price was OK.

I never knew what time it was by David Antin
why I bought it: I recently copied out one of Antin’s talk-poems from an anthology and it’s been years since I’ve read one of Antin’s books. This one came out two years ago. It is inscribed, “For my good friend, Peter – [then three or four words difficult to make out, maybe, “comrade worker in the arts”?] affectionately, david” … There’s a Cody’s receipt inside dated 5/20/05. I was already considering buying the world poetry anthology; with a second book ($7) the idea achieved critical mass. Besides, I have the feeling Black Oak isn’t going to be around a lot longer and I felt like dropping some money there.

Native American Testimony edited by Peter Nabokov
why I bought it: When I read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States I found much of the text dry and plodding, but the chapter that extensively quoted from the words of Native speakers was full of rich & interesting language. I’ve been curious about this book. I hope it rewards. It was $2 on the Half Price Books clearance shelf.