Vallejo Ignites Poet's 'Fuse'

His beady eyes maneuvered past entranced faces as his hands grasped onto the podium as if he were holding on for dear life, as if his words were overtaking his body like a wild, incurable disease. Poet Clayton Eshleman spoke last night at the UConn Co-op, his words laced with passion and dripping with worldly knowledge he was eager to share. It was easy to see how utterly captivated Eshleman was by the spirit of the written word as well as the audience, whose reaction was complete and utter stunned silence.

"I really liked how he read, it was filled with so much passion that it made it really interesting to listen to him," said 3rd-semester business major Justine Signa.

He began with excerpts from his book "Juniper Fuse" about his experiences studying ancient caves and the archaic paintings found within the dark catacombs. After 25 years and explorations within several caves dated 30,000 years ago, he finally completed the project. He created an imaginative world that allowed audience members to feel as if they were right there beside Eshleman, looking back into the origins of art.

"I studied caves because I wanted to figure out the roots of poetry, and in order to do that I needed to understand the roots of image making," said Eshleman.

He then spoke about a 48 year experience in learning about poetry, a journey which took most of his life to complete but that he feels made him the poet he is today. This experience is his translation of works by Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo. Eshleman's ultimate completion of the project has taken over half his lifetime.

"I can't believe he spent decades translating those poems," said 1st-semester nursing major Lauren Moore, "It takes a lot of passion and dedication to do something like that."

The translations were full of energy and raw emotion, making it almost impossible for audience members not to become completely engaged within the words. Eshleman referred to Vallejo's work as "revolutionary" which is why he chose to translate it, because he wanted to learn how to write poetry from the best.

"I apprenticed myself to poetry through Vallejo," said Eshleman, "You can learn so much more through studying poetry in other languages than you can in your own because the process of translation opens up new space within your mind."

He finished out the night with excerpts from his poems "Laura" and "Minor Drag," from his more recent books "Companion Spider" and "An Alchemist with One Eye on Fire."

Having written upwards of 30 books including 5 collections of translations, and receiving the National Book Award and Landon Translation Prize, Clayton Eshleman provides a great example of what can result from sheer dedication and love for what you do. His appreciation for prose allows him to make words come to life and has helped expand the bounds of what can be done with the written word. The audience was so taken aback by Eshleman's words that all they could manage to do until the end was sit ever so quietly, barely moving and just listen.

Contact Joanna Arpie at

Joanna.Arpie@UConn.edu,