32 Poems || 32 Poemas Hyam Plutzik

De Hyam Plutzik

32 Poems / 32 Poemas, is a new bilingual (Spanish and English) edition of selected poems by the American poet Hyam Plutzik (1911-1962). (hyamplutzikpoetry.com). Fourteen poets and scholars have contributed, honoring Suburbano’s mission of “Building Community,” creating opportunities for writers to engage in cross-cultural dialogue with texts from different milieus — in this case, reviving the legacy of a mid 20th century American poet from the Jewish diaspora.

The Foreword is by Richard Blanco, chosen by Barack Obama as the nation’s fifth inaugural poet in 2009. The editor, George B. Henson, assistant professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, is an essayist whom L.A. Review of Books has called “one of the most important literary translators at work in the United States today.”

Hyam Plutzik (1911-1962) spoke only Yiddish and Russian at home and did not learn English until he attended a one-room schoolhouse in rural Connecticut. Educated at Trinity College and Yale University, he taught for 16 years in the English department of the University of Rochester before his untimely death, at 50, in 1962. He was a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Aspects of Proteus (1949), Apples from Shinar (1959), and Horatio (1961).