wfi@unc.UUCP (William F. Ingogly) (02/28/85)
Here are excerpts from four books of poetry published in 1983 and
1984 that I thought readers of this newsgroup might be interested in.
Two are by newcomers, and two by 'established' poets. They are
short excerpts from longer works and I refer you to the published
books for the complete poems. I've found the Clampitt and Kenney books
(the newcomers) to be the most surprising and enjoyable of the lot.
They reveal a maturity and technique that's rare in a first book in
any genre. The Hughes book is, I think, the best thing he's done since
'Crow.' I don't feel Merwin is writing powerful stuff as consistently as
he did back when 'The Lice' and 'The Carrier Of Ladders' came out, but
there are several gems that make its purchase worthwhile. In each
case, I've supplied a list of poems that I particularly enjoy. Enjoy.
And if you like these samples, support the writers by buying their
books!
[To legal beagles: this is a short review or critique. I've clearly
stated in the above paragraph how I feel about these books, and have
recommended their purchase to the readers of this note. The short
excerpts below convey the sense of the poems and are intended to support
my positive comments about the books containing them; the longer poems
that contain them can only be appreciated in full by going back to the
sources]
------------------------
"The Kingfisher," by Amy Clampitt. Alfred A. Knopf, NY: 1983. $6.95
I'm particularly impressed by: Fog, Beach Glass, A Procession At
Candlemas, The Quarry, Imago, Good Friday, Or Consider Prometheus.
This excerpt is from the poem 'Good Friday:'
Think of the Serengeti lions looking up,
their bloody faces no more culpable
than the acacia's claw on the horizon
of those yellow plains: think with what
concerted expertise the red-necked,
down-ruffed vultures take their turn,
how after them the feasting maggots
hone the flayed wildebeest's ribcage
clean as a crucifix -- a thrift tricked out
in ribboned rags, that looks like waste --
and wonder what barbed whimper, what embryo
of compunction, first unsealed the long
compact with a limb-from-limb outrage.
------------------------
"River," by Ted Hughes. Harper & Row, NY: 1983. $6.95
I especially like these poems: Flesh Of Light, The Morning Before
Christmas, Four March Watercolours, The Merry Mink, That Morning,
The Gulkana, October Salmon, Salmon Eggs. This from a poem called
'Four March Watercolours:'
The river-epic
Rehearses itself. Embellishes afresh and afresh
Each detail. Baroque superabundance.
Earth-mouth brimming. But the snow-melt
Is an invisible restraint. If there are salmon
Under it all, they are in coma. They are stones
Lodged among stones, sealed as fossils
Under the grained pressure. I look down onto the pour
Of melted chocolate. They look up
At a guttering lamp
Through a sand-storm boil of silt
That scratches their lidless eyes,
Fumes from their gill-petals. They have to toil,
Trapped face-workers, in their holes of position
Under the mountain of water.
----------------------
"The Evolution Of The Flightless Bird," by Richard Kenney. Yale
University Press, New Haven: 1984. $4.95 (?)
These poems impressed me most: The Hours Of The Day, In April,
Five Grotesques, The Evolution Of The Flightless Bird, The Battle
Of Valcour Island. This from a poem called 'In April:'
We stand, imagining the strobe of afternoons
since earth began, the unregenerate gray
ground slacking weight all around us, once
more unfreezing, to be frozen again and thrown
back again in twigs and slag snow, and nowhere grace
or quick or leaf, the least flush or fragrance --
Then in some cold bedroom -- as finely dreamt
as riffling cotton sleeves, and all the plant stems
like new copper by the road -- a seine, a spill
of hair will fall and touch the face to simple
recognition, then: that blind instant caught,
in the absence of desire, out of the confusing sun,
when two of our species reach thoughtlessly
to groom one another, to smooth the other's skin.
----------------------
"Opening The Hand," by W. S. Merwin. Atheneum, NY: 1983. $6.95
I liked best: The Houses, Birdie, The Cow, Late Wonders, The
Shore, Berryman, Ali, What Is Modern, Hearing. And finally,
this from a poem called 'Berryman:'
as for publishing he advised me
to paper my wall with rejection slips
his lips and the bones of his long fingers trembled
with the vehemence of his view about poetry
he said the great presence
that permitted everything and transmuted it
in poetry was passion
passion was genius and he praised movement and invention
I had hardly begun to read
I asked how can you ever be sure
that what you write is really
any good at all and he said you can't
you can't you can never be sure
you die without knowing
whether anything you wrote was any good
if you have to be sure don't write
W. Ingogly
Univ. of North Carolinajcp@osiris.UUCP (Jody Patilla) (03/01/85)
Another recent book of poetry that may interest the group is "Henry Purcell in Japan", by Mary Jo Salter. She's originally from Towson, Md, and has been published in the New Yorker, among other places. -- jcpatilla "'Get stuffed !', the Harlequin replied ..."