Winner of the 1996 Bakeless Literary Publication Prize for Poetry
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
These difficult, allusive poems won the 1996 Bakeless Prize, awarded by Middlebury College and the publisher for a first book by an emerging writer. Intelligent yet insular, the title poem makes a case for art as the attempted fulfillment of spiritual desire, distinguishable from animal desire in that it can never be satisfied. There are strains of John Ashberry in the chord changes here: "I know I stand for too long, gazing/ with wistful face at the muted tints of objects/ on shelves. How smart we are all getting." Part 2 (there are four parts) escapes from the self-referential world of poems about poetry into the operating room, where the narrator, presumably a doctor or medical student, lances the abcess on an addict's arm. And it is here that the book comes to life; the next poem uses punning wordplay to transform an observed open-heart surgery into a brilliant gloss on the human condition. Several scholarly endnotes emphasize the author's interest in words and their derivations: "And things can be borrowed:/ gift comes from geve, loanword from land/ of finger-fringes coast?cold, hospitable/ means act of bounty, new owner." Interesting, with occasional flashes of brilliance; for larger poetry collections.?Ellen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From The New Yorker
Here is a chronicle of scars from touch delivered or from touch withheld. Never weakened by self-pity, these are the poems of a shrewd clinician making the psychological rounds, and their feminism is the more powerful for being implicit....
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
At Least,
By A Customer
This review is from: Apology for Want (Bakeless Prize) (Paperback)
As Peter Lorre would have said, "you're choking." There's a lot to appreciate here: the poems are carefully made. One could wish for a little less prudishness, if that's the right word; there's a self-protective mechanism at work in the poetry that keeps meaning in one corner and language in another. Well, okay, but Bang can do better, and will, I am sure.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Apology for Want (Bakeless Prize) (Paperback)
There isn't a single poem in this scrupulously crafted first book that won't fascinate and rejuvenate even the most jaded reader of poetry. Look forward to Apology for Want: you have been waiting for it. It will restore your faith in the ambitious American lyric.
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