Like a voyage to the Portuguese islands of the title, the poems in Azores arrive at their striking and hard-won destinations over the often-treacherous waters of experience—a man mourns the fact that he cannot not mourn, a father warns his daughter about harsh contingency, an unnamed visitor violently disrupts a quiet domestic scene. The ever-present and uncomfortable realities of envy, lust, and mortality haunt the book from poem to poem. Yezzi does not shy away from frank assessments of desire and human failing, the persistent difficulties of which are relieved periodically by a cautious optimism and even joy. Whether the poem’s backdrop is volcanic islands in the Mid-Atlantic or Manhattan Island at sunset, Yezzi examines the forces of change in the natural world, as w hether mundane or startlingly intimate. By turns plainspoken, caustic, evocative, and wry, these poems are, in matters of form, well-wrought and musical and, in matters of the heart, clear-eyed and always richly human.
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Review
“[Yezzi’s] elements are water and earth—locality, gravity and mortality—and with them he has made some durable poems.”
Stephen Burt — New York Times Book Review
Stephen Burt — New York Times Book Review
“David Yezzi’s finely-tuned meters make the sound of New York now: a generous, disabused intelligence holding its nerve as nonsense and brutality build at the line’s edge, and the consolations of the personal burn brighter as darkness grows. A terrific book.”
--Glyn Maxwell
--Glyn Maxwell
“At first, the book’s title seems a bit of happy, misleading mischief. Most of the opening poems place us neither at sea nor at temporary landfall, but in the heart of the city. Yet the poet’s urban eye is always on the lookout for some watery waver, instants when the workaday world sways to a tidal pull. And we reach our islands eventually, in an inspired interplay of wind and sun. David Yezzi’s Azores is an A–to–Z of life recorded with nimbleness, humor, and longing.”
--Brad Leithauser
--Brad Leithauser
About the Author
David Yezzi’s books of poetry are Sad Is Eros and The Hidden Model. His libretto for a chamber opera by David Conte, Firebird Motel, received its world premiere in 2003 and was released on CD by Arsis in 2007. His poems and criticism have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Book Review, Wall Street Journal, New Republic, The Best American Poetry 2006, and elsewhere. He is executive editor of the New Criterion.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Touching on the humor and somberness found in everyday life with an intellectual tint,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Azores: Poems (Paperback)
Experienced poet David Yezzi returns with his third anthology of poetry in "Azores". Well-written throughout, touching on the humor and somberness found in everyday life with an intellectual tint, "Azores" is an ideal pick for poetry fans and community library collections. "Tritina for Susannah": The water off these rocks is green and cold./ The sandless coast takes the tide in its mouth,/ as a wolf brings down a deer or lifts its child.// I walked this bay before you were my child./ Your fingers stinging brightly in the cold,/ I take each one and warm it in my mouth.//Though I've known this shore for years, my mouth/ holds no charms of use to you, my child./ You will have to learn the words to ward off cold// and know them cold, child, in your open mouth.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fine book by a fine poet,
By
This review is from: Azores: Poems (Paperback)
Adam Kirsch already said it best: "The sophistication of Mr. Yezzi's language perfectly suits the sophistication of his understanding, and some of the poems in 'Azores'--'Very Like a Whale,' 'Dog's Life,' the brilliant and unexpected dramatic monologue 'The Ghost-Seer--display a mastery reminiscent of Philip Larkin and Donald Justice, which no poet of Mr. Yezzi's generation can match." 'Nuff said!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sophisticated, fine,
This review is from: Azores: Poems (Paperback)
and at times funny. Yezzi captures contemporary language and concerns with classical skills. For the best and brightest in poetry, stop here.
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