Seeking a quiet, reclusive existence, Stroud (Signatures, 1982) borrows his title from the Chinese poet Han-Shan. Sixty six-line poems that make up the first section also owe their brevity and philosophy to the Chinese masters. They are uneven at best, with too many images and visions stretch credibility: "a half-circle of cockroaches,/ the color of burnt butter, sitting in full lotus, antennae/ weaving mantras." These pieces are at least sincere portraits of fleeting selves. Poems in the next sectionAhomages, responses, and loose translationsAoffer little promise. Yet Stroud is also capable of memorable poems, as proved by a long prefatory poem and the poems in the third and final section (dealing mostly with his father's death and the breakup of his marriage). Here there is no posturing, no attempt to speak in any voice other than his own. Unfortunately, less than a third of a book isn't enough to recommend it.ARochelle Ratner, formerly of "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
After The Opera
Alam Al-mithral
Alchemy: Final Music
All Through The Night The Mockingbird Sang
And For This Also I Am Ashamed
And I Raised My Hand In Return
Autumn
Auvergne
Babette
Bible
Biophysics
By The Rivers Of Babylon
Can You Hear It?
Cezanne And The Noumenal World
Chaos Theory: Equation
Come And Get It
Comice
Craft
Crossing Over And Back
Crossing The Island
Death In The Tehachapi
Die Schwermut
Directions
Dissolving
Earth Angel
Every Summer The Riots
Ezra Under The Constellation Of The Dragon
Feral
The First Law Of Thermodynamics
From Time To Time Turning My Head To See
Go Fetch It!
Grief
Hacedor
He Asked, And We Began The Train Into The Heart
He Told Me To Come Back And See
Hear That Phone Ringing? Sounds Like A Long Distance Call
Homage To Life
Homage To Night
Homage To Rolf Jacobsen
Homage To The Black Walnut In Downtown Santa Cruz
Homage To The Presence Of The Mystery Among Us
Homage To The Word-hoard
Homage: Doo-wop
Homage: Summer/winter, Shay Creek; In The Shining
Homage: Summer/winter, Shay Creek; Manna
How Green The Leaves In Sunlight Are
I Was Not Prepared For The Death Of My Father
Idle
In Puerto Vallarta Once
In Sepia
In The Body Of The Dragon
In The Dragon's Mouth
In The Maze Garden Of The Generalife
In This Flesh
Islands
Knots
The Life Of A Dog
Lines
Listening To Issa
Listening To Leon
Lost
Love In The Classical World
Love Like A Catch Of Fire
Love's More Difficult Translation
The Magician
Matar La Noche
Memories At The Movies
Mercy, Mercy
Missing
My Father Died
Night In Day
The Nightingales Of Andalucia
No Lexicon
Notes Toward A 19th-century Painting
Of Sappho/ [shards] /sabi
Oh Yes
The Orchard
The Others, O Lord, For My Time Has Not Yet Come
Our Blood Is Red Coral, We Build A Bridge Over The Abyss
Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Boy
Provenance
Questions And Answers
Reading Cavafy Alone In Bed
Rock Me On The Waters
Seizure
Shape-shifter; 1957
Shape-shifter; 1987
Shine
Simple Gifts (2)
Sky Diving
The Song Of Divorce
Steps To The River
That Life Is A Circle Of Heraclitean Fire
These Nights, Passing Through
This Waiting
Venom
Waiting For The Barbarians
Waking On The Shining Path
What She Told Me In Orland, California
Where Language Fails
The Words Of Chilam Balam
The Years Like Crows Coming Home To Roost
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Table of Poems from Poem Finder®