ARCHIVE OF FOUR TYPED LETTERS SIGNED (TLSs) and FOUR AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED (ALSs)TO ARCHIBALD MACLEISH

Hamden, CT, 1974 - 1977. Letters. One typed letter missing the first page. Near Fine. Four handwritten letters and four typed letters, all SIGNED variously in full or as "Al," on different stationery, all addressed to "Mr. MacLeish," totaling 15 pages. Poulin covers much ground including his open-heart surgery, a proposed anthology of American poetry to coincide with the Bicentennial (Poulin had edited the 1971 anthology CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY), discussion of various forthcoming BOA publications including W. D. Snodgrass's THE FÜHRER BUNKER and Anthony Piccione's ANCHOR DRAGGING for which MacLeish wrote the foreword, comments on what it means to be a poet and the State University of New York at Brockport's The Writer's Forum series (Poulin taught there), as well as much else including MacLeish's effect on Poulin: "I hope you know that you continue to be a profound influence on many of us here-- we who continue to envy your serenity and wisdom and humanity and artistry. Increasingly I believe in some fate, some power outside of us that touches our lives. And in that light I believe your too brief visit to Brockport in 1974 was an act of that power intended to show me the grandeur of your life after so much destruction touched the edges of my life. I am in your debt every day, perhaps more so than you can possibly realize."

Al Poulin (1938 - 1996) was an American poet, translator, and editor noted for his translations of Rainer Maria Rilke's DUINO ELEGIES and THE SONNETS TO ORPHEUS as well as being the founder and publisher of BOA Editions, now in its 45th year of publishing poetry.