Cathartic, refreshing new work by the American favorite
Tiptoe on the globe. Gazing
nowhere in particular, the slender
Thunderer surrounded by thunder,
Fire zigzag in his grasp, labeled "Spirit
Of Communication"---unhistorical,
Pure, the merciless messenger.
--from "A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-forties"
Innovative, engaging poems from a leading American poet.
Stone wheel that sharpens the blade that mows the grain, Wheel of the sunflower turning, wheel that turnsThe spiral press that squeezes the oil expressedFrom shale or olives. Particles that turn mudOn the potter's wheel that spins to form the vesselThat holds the oil that drips to cool the blade.--from "Biography"Jersey Rain takes up a central American subject: the emotional power of inventions, devices, and homemade imaginings -- from the alphabet and the lyre through the steel drum and piano to the record player, digital computer, and television. Formally innovative and highly readable poems like "ABC," "Ode to Meaning," "To Television," and "The Green Piano" meditate a life guided by the quick, artful tinkerer-god Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, brilliant messenger, and trickster of heaven.
Tiptoe on the globe.
Gazing
nowhere in particular, the slender
Thunderer surrounded by thunder,
Fire zigzag in his grasp, labeled "Spirit
Of Communication"---unhistorical,
Pure, the merciless messenger.
--from "A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-forties"
Jersey Rain -- at once complex and aboveboard -- marks a new, strong, lyrical stage of Robert Pinsky's work. Assembled here are poems -- some of the finest of his career -- that together compose a sweeping and embattled meditation on the themes of a life guided by Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, brilliant messenger and trickster of heaven.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"Poise and intellect do not preclude passion . . . in this ravishing and unusually revealing collection. . . . Life changes shape and intent in Pinsky's poems, like the gods and goddesses of old, and his chronicling of its metamorphoses is grace incarnate." --Booklist
"With lavish technical gifts, a discriminating civic intelligence, and an impish relish for what goes against the solemnities of a lot of contemporary verse, Pinsky has given us one of the outstanding bodies of work in English-language poetry." --Justin Quinn, The Boston Book Review
"The poetic mode of Jersey Rain is reflective, full of pathos for the human condition, and rich in its emotional scope. . . . Pinsky's poems remind us that . . . poetry is a tool for living." --David Clippinger, Harvard Review
Robert Pinsky, United States Poet Laureate 1997-2000, has received the William Carlos Williams Prize, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He is poetry editor at Slate and teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780374527723
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Paperback. Publisher overstock, may contain remainder mark on edge. Seller Inventory # 9780374527723B
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 611635-n
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Brand New! This item is printed on demand. Seller Inventory # 0374527725
Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. Jersey Rain: Poems 0.19. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780374527723
Book Description PAP. Condition: New. New Book. Shipped from UK. THIS BOOK IS PRINTED ON DEMAND. Established seller since 2000. Seller Inventory # L0-9780374527723
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLIING23Feb2215580168636
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0374527725-2-1
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Brand New Copy. Seller Inventory # BBB_new0374527725
Book Description Condition: New. PRINT ON DEMAND Book; New; Fast Shipping from the UK. No. book. Seller Inventory # ria9780374527723_lsuk