87 North [Paperback]

Michael Coffey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1999 | Series: Hoa Tinh (Book 1)

Poems that take the poet and the reader home, to a point of greater understanding of the past and comfort with the future.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In his second collection, Coffey steps back from the exhilarating linguistic experimentalism of his first, Elemenopy, into a more familiar, domestic lyric posture. Route 87 North is the leg of the New York Thruway that runs to Saranac, the poet's boyhood home and the inspiration for poems like "Adirondack Sounds," in which the narrator tries to instill in his young son a sense of geographic rootedness by asking him to repeat the place names of his own youth: "Beekmantown/ in my boy's mouth/ is a clear parcel of fields/ farmed for stone and apples..." In contrast, several pieces measure the more charged atmosphere of New York City, Coffey's current home: "Car tires lick the street,/ lifting and replacing/ ribbons of rain,/ a kind of getting, ripping/ and simultaneous healing." Coffey acts as a barometer, registering his self-consciousness in a precise moment of time and physical space. The drawback, though, is that most poets writing today do exactly the same thing, and one wishes Coffey had indulged more in the kind of idiosyncratic, associative risks that make his opening sequence, "In Robert Motherwell's Car," so richly enigmatic.AFred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"I've lived in New York City, and I've lived in the Adirondacks, and so can say that Michael Coffey understands both these marvels in some deep way. Understands them so well he can distill their essence, drip their meaning out like water through a percolator, each drop full of

bitter flavor. With this book he becomes a poet laureate of the Empire State, and of a much wider and more unbounded realm as well." -- Bill McKibben

"Michael Coffey's second book exhibits the ferocity of his range: polemics worthy of Pope; quick delights which ignite in wit; and dazzling, luminous poems that mix the language and geography of upstate New York with history, geography, faith, autobiography, and poetic inheritance. It is a marvelous book, and a daring successor to his language-centered debut, Elemenopy. " -- Susan Wheeler

Adirondack Sounds
Adirondacks, Easter Sunday
The Apple
At Sagaponack
At The Night Game (flushing, Queens)
But No
By Whale Light
Cassie Pickett's Molasses Cookies
Central Park West
Dad's Shoes
The Death Of Robert Creely
A Dilapidated Foundation In Clinton County
February Thaw
First Snow
In Robert Motherwell's Car
John Cleever
Melville On The Beach
Mid-life, Looking North
My Quarrel With Language Poetry
New Year's Day
No Answer
Noise Meter
Originally Called 7/20/96
Picking Stone
Rhythm City
The Saranac River
September
Shadow Limb
St. Vincent's
Still Life: Coney Island & Country Gym
Summer Morning
Touring
Trees Of Knowledge
The Wind
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Coffee House Press; 1st edition (May 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566890853
• ISBN-13: 978-1566890854
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,560,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable!, November 25, 2008

By 

Kathryn E. Pasko "Katie Ryan Pasko" (Schodack, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 87 North (Paperback)

This is a very enjoyable book to read and keep around on your coffee or end table to look through occasionally, especially if you grew up in the North Country and have made trips up and down 87. You'll be reminded of things you may have forgotten about! I grew up on the same street as the author and remember going to visit his mom who was friends with my mother. The poems remind me of my many trips up the Northway (87) to visit my parents, as I've lived 3 hours South of Saranac for 25 years now.

Katie Ryan