Speculative Music

Poems by Jeff Dolven (Sarabande Books 2013)

Speculative Music,  a  new book of poems by Yale grad Jeff Dolven, does not really betray the fact that, as a scholar who teaches at Princeton, his main field of expertise is the English Renaissance. These are modern poems which sometimes may use classical forms and language but have the pace and perspicacity of the here and now.
I mention Dolven here on this blog because the poem which inspires threw book’s title, Invention: A Libretto for Speculative Music, is written as a play script, complete with Dramatis Personae. It crosses over into other media in other ways. This multi- voiced 11- page work veers from purposefully simple verse rhymes to long stage directions, questioning the form, content and direction of music, as well as the criticism it inspires.

Dolven has an advanced sense of presentation, of physical presence, in his poems that makes them seem theatrical. There’s a funny metaphorical piece called My Puppets and several which could easily be staged as poetic yet conversational monologues.

This is definitely the sort of book which feels as if there’s someone else in the room with you, performing it.