Craft: Hannah Weiner

Hannah Weiner (1928-1997) was an experimental poet associated with the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E group of poets. Weiner’s poetry grew out of the Deep Image and “New Narrative” work that was being done by people in the San Francisco Renaissance, but she was also part of a broader set of artists in the 1960s New York avant-garde, including Philip Glass, Carolee Schneemann, David Antin, Bernadette Mayer, and Jackson Mac Low.

Weiner worked at Bloomingdale’s and later made a living as a bra designer. In 1970 she realized her clairvoyant powers and said she began to see words in the air:

Weiner’s work is unlike anything else in either avant-garde or mainstream poetry. Her sonic patterning and physical pushing around of blank space has a swirly, intoxicating feel and appeal. Her books are divided into clairvoyant and non-clairvoyant. Weiner’s collections include Magritte Poems (1970), Clairvoyant Journal (1978), Little Books/Indians (1980), The Code Poems (1982), Spoke (1984), Silent Teachers / Remembered Sequel (1993), and We Speak Silent (1997).

Weiner in Woodstock, NY in 1969

The clairvoyant aspect of her works creates a new position for her language in terms of dynamics and manipulation of blank space.