From Publishers Weekly
This pellucid, rousing eighth collection ( Foreseeable Futures ) combines anecdote and revelation with the rhythmic structure of music--specifically, blues. Concerned largely with loss and reconciliation, the poet's tender but realistic vision strains to uncover those redemptive elements of compassion and empathy that coexist with pain. On the concept of the limits of language, Matthews notes, "what we lazily call 'form' / in poetry / let's say, is Language's desperate / attempt to wrench from print / the voluble body it gave away / in order to be read." Story-like, these poems are composed of what might be termed alternate narratives: the primary action or crisis is acknowledged but not pursued. Instead, Matthews focuses on secondary material, the aftershocks of the event, which bear a symbolic as well as narrative impact. Describing his defection from his family, a narrator concentrates on their house: "The way the cops 'lift' / fingerprints, that's how I touched the house. . . . / I took what I could. / Each smudge I left, each slur, each whorl, I left / for love, but love of what I cannot say." Elegiac, these poems nonetheless progress steadily in their recognition of change and perseverance.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
107th & Amsterdam
39,000 Feet
The Blues
Change Of Address
Civics
Couple, 70, Hasn't Aged In 35 Years
Every Cloud Has Its Day
Every Dog Has A Silver Lining
Every Tub
Fox Ridge State Park, Illinois, October
Homer's Seeing-eye Dog
Housecooling
The Introduction
It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Little Blue Nude
Mood Indigo
Moonlight In Vermont
Nabokov's Blues
Onions
Otego To Roscoe To Manhattan
Prolific
A Red Silk Blouse
The Scalpel
School Days
Short Farewells
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
The Socratic Method
Spent Breath
Straight Life
The Times
What A Little Moonlight Can Do
Worm Sonnet
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
39,000 Feet
The Blues
Change Of Address
Civics
Couple, 70, Hasn't Aged In 35 Years
Every Cloud Has Its Day
Every Dog Has A Silver Lining
Every Tub
Fox Ridge State Park, Illinois, October
Homer's Seeing-eye Dog
Housecooling
The Introduction
It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Little Blue Nude
Mood Indigo
Moonlight In Vermont
Nabokov's Blues
Onions
Otego To Roscoe To Manhattan
Prolific
A Red Silk Blouse
The Scalpel
School Days
Short Farewells
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
The Socratic Method
Spent Breath
Straight Life
The Times
What A Little Moonlight Can Do
Worm Sonnet
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®
