Donald Wellman

Donald Wellman is a poet and translator. His poetry is deeply influenced by that of Charles Olson. His work has both an ethnographic and conceptual edge. His work draws on the several languages he reads. He has translated two volumes by Antonio Gamoneda, Description of the Lie (Talisman House 2014) and Gravestones (University of New Orleans 2009). Other translations of Gamoneda’s poetry can be found in Words Without Border, The Brooklyn Rail, and Guernica. Wellman’s poetry includes The Cranberry Island Series (Dos Madres 2013), A North Atlantic Wall (Dos Madres 2010), Prolog Pages (Ahadada 2009). From 1981-1994, he edited O.ARS, a series of anthologies devoted to innovative poetics, including volumes entitled Coherence, Perception and Translations: Experiments in Reading. Wellman’s translation of Enclosed Garden / Jardín cerrado by Emilio Prados has been highly praised (Lavender Ink 2013). He also translates from French and German: Blaise Cendrars (The Prose of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and of the Little Joan of Arc) and Yvan Goll, (Dream Grass). Originally a medievalist, his current scholarship addresses the poetry of William Carlos Williams, Charles Olson, and Ezra Pound. Other topics include translation theory, language poetry, post-language poetry, transcultural and hybrid poetics.