- Softcover
- Used
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.ThriftBooks-Dallas
AbeBooks seller since July 2, 2009
Condition: Used - Fair
£ 12.14
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Seller Inventory # G1602358818I5N00
- Title
- Man Praying
- Author
- Platt, Donald
- Publisher
- Parlor Press
- Publication year
- 2017
- Condition
- Fair
- Dust jacket
- No Jacket
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1602358818
- ISBN 13
- 9781602358812
- Item weight
- 0.75 pounds
In his sixth book, Donald Platt starts a poem by exclaiming, "The days are one thousand / puzzle pieces." He gathers up the days into this book of terrors and ecstasies decanted in seamlessly reversing tercets of long and short lines, syllabic couplets, and lyric prose. The puzzle pieces include a dying father-in-law, AIDS, maimed World War I veterans, Caravaggio's painting of the beheading of St. John the Baptist (his largest canvas), and the story of a gay boxer who KOs and kills the opponent who has called him a faggot at the weigh-in. It is a book that encompasses contradictions. The poet writes about his bisexuality, his close and intimate marriage, Rudolf Nureyev, a daughter with manic depression, a painting by James Ensor entitled Christ's Entry into Brussels in 1889, and la Playa los Muertos, the Beach of the Dead in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The poet puts these fragments of a life together into a thousand-piece jigsaw, a self-portrait of the artist in middle age, and calls it unabashedly Man Praying.
These poems--powered by Donald Platt's extensive curiosity---spin out his fascinations in such loving detail that I am persuaded to look closer, not only at what his mind examines, but the world itself. By turning and turning his subjects before our eyes, he deepens our awareness of life's complexities and wonders, and offers a testament to the power of intelligence to foster a sense of purpose and belonging. His gaze is a kind of reverence.
--Bob Hicok
Want a narrative poem that doesn't sound dated, or clunky, or stunt-like? Platt did, so he wrote one ["The Main Event"]: in 1962 one professional boxer killed another, in the ring, on live TV. The victim, Benny "The Kid" Paret, had called the killer, Emile Griffith, "a maricón / Cuban slang for 'faggot.'" Griffith would later "become / world champ four more times"; he was, in fact, gay, and was once "beaten almost / to death by five young / homophobes, one with a baseball bat." If you're wondering why there should be narrative poems or reported stories in verse even today, one answer is that stories like this one benefit from the compression of verse, its ability to focus on single phrases and words. Another answer is Platt's poem.
--Steph Burt, bostonreview.net/blog
This poet is fearless. "I like to think. . . ." So goes the first line of Man Praying but it's dreaming at stake too, a man dreaming with heart, curiosity, pain. "The days are one thousand/ puzzle pieces," the poet tells us, without despair. And thus these rambling meticulous poems open to the world grandly and in the smallest ways--how artists see (Rivera, Caravaggio, Mary Hambleton, Brancusi, for starters); how others reinvent the body (Nureyev, boxers, and whoever wrestles like Jacob with whatever angel); how some die and the rest of us survive, for now. Which is to say, the dead and the living walk through these poems--father, daughters, all family as guardians, fellow travelers, radiant lights. Donald Platt's rare mix of story sacred and profane cut with lyric discovery fills these pages. "Silence, final word, sear my mouth," the poet says. But I say: Silence, don't listen to him.
--Marianne Boruch
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
ThriftBooks-Dallas
Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since July 2, 2009
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 4 to 8 business days | 4 to 8 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 0.00 | £ 0.00 |
Payment methods
Store description
Seller's business information
Thrift Books Global LLC
18300 Cascade Ave S
Seattle, WA U.S.A. 98188
Terms of sale
We guarantee each book that we send you. If you have any problems, please contact
our dedicated customer service department. They will do everything possible to
ensure you are happy with your order.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
All domestic Standard and Expedited shipments are distributed from our warehouses by OSM, then handed off to the USPS for final delivery.
2-Day Shipping is delivered by FedEx, which does not deliver to PO boxes.
International shipments are tendered to the local postal service in the destination country for final delivery – we do not use courier services for international deliveries.