Mark Statman
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Mark Statman has written twelve books. Among them are the poetry collections, Chicatanas: Selected Poems(CCCP/Subpress, 2023), Hechizo (Lavender Ink, 2022), Exile Home (Lavender Ink, 2019), That Train Again (Lavender Ink, 2015), A Map of the Winds (Lavender Ink, 2013) and Tourist at a Miracle (Hanging Loose, 2010). His translations include Never Made in America: Selected Poetry from Martín Barea Mattos (Lavender Ink/diálogos, 2017), Black Tulips: The Selected Poems of José María Hinojosa (University of New Orleans Press, 2012), and, with Pablo Medina, a translation of Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York (Grove 2008). Statman’s poetry, essays, and translations have appeared in 23 anthologies, as well as such publications as New American Writing, Tin House, Tupelo Quarterly, Hanging Loose, Ping Pong, Xavier Review, and American Poetry Review. A recipient of awards from the NEA and the National Writers Project, he is Emeritus Professor of Literary Studies at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School, and lives in San Pedro Ixtlahuaca and Oaxaca de Juárez, MX with his wife, the painter and writer, Katherine Koch.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
It’s hard to separate my poet self from my Jewish self—celebrations of ritual, of family; moral, ethical, and spiritual motifs; a love of language, of learning; an understanding of how the metaphysical and sublime, the spiritual and religious, all these are fundamental in my writing and life. In my most recent books, Exile/Home and Hechizo my expression of my Judaism has become more overt as I’ve begun to focus more specifically on the traditions of Judaism and how they engage me particularly living in southern Mexico since 2016. My next book, which will appear in 2025, is tentatively titled Teshuvah/Volverse/Volver—reflects deeply on the ways in which we return to being and still become more deeply spiritual human beings.
Published Works
Poetry
Chicatanas: Selected Poems (forthcoming CCCP with Subpress, 2023)
Hechizo (Lavender Ink, 2022)
Exile Home (Lavender Ink, 2019)
That Train Again (Lavender Ink, 2015)
A Map of the Winds (Lavender Ink, 2013)
Tourist at a Miracle (Hanging Loose Press, 2010)
The Red Skyline: Poems (Work and Lives Press, 1987)
Translations
Never Made in America: Selected Poems from Martín Barea Mattos (Lavender Ink/diálogos, 2017)
Black Tulips: The Selected Poems of José María Hinojosa (University of New Orleans Press, 2012)
Poet in New York, Federico García Lorca; with co-translator Pablo Medina (Grove Press, 2008)
Essays
Listener in the Snow: The Practice and Teaching of Poetry (Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 2000)
The Alphabet of the Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing; co-edited with Christian McEwen (Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 2000)
Links to Sample Works
Video Reading
Current Title
Education
Columbia College, Columbia University, B.A. in Comparative Religions