Journal Issue
The May 1968 issue of Comment in Motion brings its writers together without asking them to sound alike. It contains 30 named pieces or sections, beginning with Reactions to Fluctuant Syllabic Verse and Comment in Motion, Foreword, and From “En las Orillas del Sar” by Rosalía Castro. That opening offers a direct path through the issue, but it is not the only one. A reader can follow the printed order, pause over a familiar contributor, or start with a title that catches the eye. No special background is needed. The magazine explains itself gradually through the choices it makes and through the company each piece keeps.
This number makes Louise Labé the center of its experiment, carrying 14 poems—from Sonnet I to Sonnet XXV—into Grover Jacoby’s fluctuant syllabic measure. Translations of Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Hölderlin, Rosalía Castro broaden the comparison, so the issue reads as a set of practical tests rather than a single showcase. Reactions to Fluctuant Syllabic Verse and Comment in Motion supplies the turning point, explaining what the verse itself is trying to preserve: movement, stress, and rhetorical force across languages. The result is both a small anthology and a compact demonstration of translation as an argument about poetic time.
The contents page also works like a small map. Early entries establish the issue’s first set of voices; around the middle, Sonnet XVII by Louise Labé changes the view; the closing stretch reaches Moon Night by Joseph von Eichendorff. The works differ in length, subject, and manner, yet their placement creates connections that a simple list of names cannot show. The pleasure comes from those changes. A short piece can clear the air after a longer one, a new voice can redirect the mood, and an unexpected title can make an earlier page look different when the reader thinks back to it.
The contributor list includes Rosalía Castro, Giacomo Leopardi, Paul Verlaine, Joachim du Bellay, Louise Labé, Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich Heine, and Joseph von Eichendorff, along with 1 additional contributor. Some readers will arrive looking for a particular name; others will meet these contributors here for the first time. Either approach works. The publication details add useful context: the issue was edited by Grover Jacoby, published by Variegation Publishing Company, and issued from Los Angeles, California. A journal is also a made object, assembled by people deciding what to print, how to order it, and which voices should share a number. Reading from beginning to end lets those choices appear naturally.
The catalog subjects—Los Angeles little magazines, American poetry, Poetry translation, Comparative poetics, and Fluctuant syllabic verse—are useful starting points, especially for searching, but they do not set limits on what a reader may find. For a first visit, begin with Reactions to Fluctuant Syllabic Verse and Comment in Motion, turn next to Sonnet XVII by Louise Labé, and finish with Moon Night by Joseph von Eichendorff. The clean reading edition is designed for that kind of movement. Original scan: 25 PDF pages. Reader’s edition: 41 pages. It keeps the contents in a stable, legible form and makes names and titles easier to find. A source facsimile remains part of the project’s private editorial record, but it is not included in the public upload. What appears here is the reading copy: a practical way to spend time with the issue and discover which pieces invite a return.
Contributors
- Rosalía Castro — Original poet
- Giacomo Leopardi — Original poet
- Paul Verlaine — Original poet
- Joachim du Bellay — Original poet
- Louise Labé — Original poet
- Friedrich Hölderlin — Original poet
- Heinrich Heine — Original poet
- Joseph von Eichendorff — Original poet
- Grover Jacoby — Translator
Publication details
Full contents
- Reactions to Fluctuant Syllabic Verse and Comment in Motion [Essay]
- Foreword [Essay, p. 122]
- From “En las Orillas del Sar” — Rosalía Castro [Poem (translation), p. 125]
- From “En las Orillas del Sar” — Rosalía Castro [Poem (translation), p. 126]
- To the Moon — Giacomo Leopardi [Poem (translation), p. 127]
- Initium — Paul Verlaine [Poem (translation), p. 128]
- From “The Regrets” — Joachim du Bellay [Poem (translation), p. 129]
- Sonnet I — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 130]
- Sonnet IV — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 131]
- Sonnet VI — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 132]
- Sonnet VIII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 133]
- Sonnet X — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 134]
- Sonnet XI — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 135]
- Sonnet XIV — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 136]
- Sonnet XV — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 137]
- Sonnet XVI — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 138]
- Sonnet XVII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 139]
- Sonnet XX — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 140]
- Sonnet XXII — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 141]
- Sonnet XXIV — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 142]
- Sonnet XXV — Louise Labé [Poem (translation), p. 143]
- Apology — Friedrich Hölderlin [Poem (translation), p. 146]
- Curtailment — Friedrich Hölderlin [Poem (translation), p. 147]
- The Unpardonable — Friedrich Hölderlin [Poem (translation), p. 148]
- Evening Phantasy — Friedrich Hölderlin [Poem (translation), p. 149]
- From “En las Orillas del Sar” — Rosalía Castro [Poem (translation), p. 150]
- From “Die Heimkehr” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 151]
- From “Verschiedene” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 152]
- The Lotus Flower — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 153]
- Psyche — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 154]
- From “Lyrisches Intermezzo” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 155]
- From “Lyrisches Intermezzo” — Heinrich Heine [Poem (translation), p. 156]
- Moon Night — Joseph von Eichendorff [Poem (translation), p. 157]
Rights and citation
Copyright © 1968 by Grover Jacoby
Copyright Status Unresolved
The issue bears a 1968 copyright notice; rights in individual contributions and the compilation have not been fully resolved.
*Comment in Motion*, no. 5, May 1968. Text/Tech Journals, reader’s edition.