Skating With Heather Grace (Knopf Poetry) - Softcover

Lynch, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0394747569 ISBN 13: 9780394747569

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 1987

Synopsis

Poems deal with balance, suicide, divorce, marriage, parents, children, death, nature, disappointment, and memories<

About this title

Review:

Publishers Weekly"

The New York Times"

"Often his subjects are commonplace his wife, dog and children, his work and the poems are set at home in Michigan and abroad, in Ireland and Italy. (Several of the pieces are about Argyle, a mythic Irish character.) Like his father, Lynch is an undertaker, and the poems that address death here are sagacious and overcome the risk of morbidity by embracing life while facing death. Other standouts are his tender meditation on his daughter, 'Skating with Heather Grace, ' and the heartfelt, gritty perceptions of 'Tatyana.' Most of the pieces are composed in pentameters, the majority written in a capricious blank verse."--Publishers Weekly

"Mr. Lynch's caustic humor is part inheritance, part the reaction to modern culture of a poet caught between two worlds. . . . Mr. Lynch, by no means incidentally, earns his living as an undertaker; mortality is this book's underlying theme. The dire struggle in these poems--and despite strong domestic leanings, Mr. Lynch appears driven to extremes--is balancing life's opposing forces."--The New York Times

"This powerful, provocative collection of 42 poems introduces a poet who speaks with authority and eloquence. . . . Like his father, Lynch is an undertaker, and the poems that address death here are sagacious and overcome the risk of morbidity by embracing life while facing death."--Publishers Weekly

Often his subjects are commonplace his wife, dog and children, his work and the poems are set at home in Michigan and abroad, in Ireland and Italy. (Several of the pieces are about Argyle, a mythic Irish character.) Like his father, Lynch is an undertaker, and the poems that address death here are sagacious and overcome the risk of morbidity by embracing life while facing death. Other standouts are his tender meditation on his daughter, 'Skating with Heather Grace, ' and the heartfelt, gritty perceptions of 'Tatyana.' Most of the pieces are composed in pentameters, the majority written in a capricious blank verse.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Mr. Lynch's caustic humor is part inheritance, part the reaction to modern culture of a poet caught between two worlds. . . . Mr. Lynch, by no means incidentally, earns his living as an undertaker; mortality is this book's underlying theme. The dire struggle in these poems--and despite strong domestic leanings, Mr. Lynch appears driven to extremes--is balancing life's opposing forces.-- "The New York Times"

This powerful, provocative collection of 42 poems introduces a poet who speaks with authority and eloquence. . . . Like his father, Lynch is an undertaker, and the poems that address death here are sagacious and overcome the risk of morbidity by embracing life while facing death.-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author:

THOMAS LYNCH's poems, essays, and stories have appeared in Granta, The Atlantic, Harper's, and The Times (of London, New York, Ireland, and Los Angeles), and elsewhere. His book, The Undertaking, was a finalist for the National Book Award. The PBS Frontline film based on this work won the 2008 Emmy Award for Arts & Culture Documentary. His first collection of stories, Apparition & Late Fictions, has recently been published by W. W. Norton. He lives in Milford, Michigan, and in Moveen West, County Clare, Ireland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0394747569
• ISBN 13: 9780394747569
• Binding: Paperback