Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
Starting January 1, 2013, this is a daily exercise in erasure poetry based on the 17th-century Diary of Samuel Pepys. Why this work? Its language is admirably concrete, with recurring words and turns of phrase shaped by the exigencies of Pepys’ original shorthand. In thought and content it stands at the beginning of the modern era: the first truly confessional piece of literature by a man equally fascinated by religion and science, and whose curiosity encompassed everything from music-making and theater to mathematics, accounting, politics, fashion, and carnal pleasures. And last but not least, the 1899 Wheatley edition is available online in a website that is really a model for how to present literature on the web. It was my desire to read it day by day that led to this project, which I view not as erasure but as discovery—a kind of deep (mis)reading. Pepys was a sexual predator and an architect of British colonialism who personally profited off the slave trade, so any less than an engaged, critical reading of the diary, in this day and age, would be irresponsible. From a secret diary, these are the secret poems hidden even from the author himself.
I began compiling the erasures into free ebooks in 2017. Here are 1664, 1665, 1666, 1667, 1668 and 1669, and from my second attempt, here are 1660 and 1661.
Having sailed all night,
we come in sight
of a fresh gale
and a good deal.
Great was the shout of guns,
the rattling of guns.
Smoke came,
the captains came.
I wrote to my wife,
drank wine to my wife.
It was in the morning.
We parted this evening.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 9 April 1660.
Gain and ache are the greatest guides.
We lay with women, being pretty handsome.
We went to bed, being somewhat ill,
afterwards disputing for and against
extemporary prayer.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 8 April 1660.
Wind among the sands.
I eat oysters all afternoon,
walk to keep myself from clock and caudle.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 7 April 1660.
This desire to be here
or to be there: all day
under sail, the money in
my hands, the fine moon
walking upon the sea…
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Friday 6 April 1660.
Infinity failed me, and evening
overtook us at gray noon.
No anchor brought order.
I count a knot a night.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Thursday 5 April 1660.
I dispatch a colonel with a pen,
no treaty to commend him.
How quiet he is!
I dine on a great oar, pay
their servant to row
and rest my mouth.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Wednesday 4 April 1660.
A great knocking in me
and I am down, I am wood.
Hopes have to be settled on shore,
but the water being almost
at low water, fear is sure.
I urge the surgeon on,
my heart heavy for not hearing my heart.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Tuesday 3 April 1660.
I take leave of trouble
with a dinner of oats,
get one window to the sea
and another to the deck
like a king.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Monday 2 April 1660.
I ate all summer, as much as I could.
Tell me a king will come and soldiers
drink in the streets.
I stay a bear.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Sunday 1 April 1660.
This morning, the Lord
sent me a bill
for the wine.
Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 31 March 1660.