As If (National Poetry Series) [Paperback]

James Richardson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992 | Series: National Poetry Series

A collection of poems explore the poet's shifting moods in nature--depicting an autumn landscape, a flock of starlings--and are steeped in the romantic tradition. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A flock of starlings leveling in flight appears "like a sheet of paper edge-on." The sound of a stone hurled through dry woods resembles "deer on the move, or a straining chair." The poems of Richardson's ( Reservations ) collection--selected by Amy Clampitt for the National Poetry series--center on such instances of startling similitude, of imagination depicting things as if they were other things, hence the volume's title. This "will to be surprised," this relentless recomposition of reality through perception uncovers the unusual at the heart of the ordinary yet also induces numbing vertigo.In "In Our Elements" the quintessen-tial shape-shifter--water--complains that ceaseless motion and change lead to a memoryless indifference and longing instead to be like land, "cliffed and faulted . . . to hold." Richardson's best lines possess a halting, Dickinsonian quality ("To coax / a lash from the eye-- / slight is wary, / hard if hurried"), and his verb choices consistently fascinate: "apples blued," sentences "wilder." Occasional emotional flabbiness, therefore, stands out. "Pity me that I can look on you and not die for pity, / that I am nothing you can believe."
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Using the images of a gray late autumn, Richardson's previous collection ( Reservations , Princeton Univ. Pr., 1977) expressed the self-disillusionment that accompanies a growing awareness of mortality. Continuing that theme, this melancholy yet richly crafted collection is reminiscent of Wallace Stevens's shorter poems but lacks his acceptance of death as part of the natural cycle of life. Still, the sincerity and often brutal honesty with which the poet examines his life is compelling: "That was my life/ To lie and make the lie true." A "Song for Kate," the most optimistic poem in the collection, is a beautiful tribute to the salvation found in the love of one's child. For large poetry collections.
- Denise Sticha, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 78 pages
• Publisher: Persea Books; First edition (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892551712
• ISBN-13: 978-0892551712
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,952,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.