Customer Reviews

A Circus of Needs

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I love Stephen Dunn's work for many reasons, for his clear, direct prose and his honesty about all subject matters. Circus of Needs embodies these reasons to the best of Dunn's abilities.

In this collection of poetry, there is a sense of sadness that is comforting. Dunn points out that life is not perfect, that all is not well; he speaks for the everyday, common man and acknowledges the beauty in our world that slips by unnoticed too often. The standout poem is "Instead of You," in which Dunn explains that "from the start all I wanted to explain was how things go wrong, how the heart's an empty place until it is filled, and how the darkness in forever waiting for its chance." The point is that Dunn is writing for us, the readers; he extracts and dissects subject matter, wanting to breathe a new life into the normal while examining it closely, like a butterfly. Although "there's no way to keep the ugliness out, ever," Dunn writes in an effort to understand what we all ignore, so that he can "pull you from the wreckage and kiss your bruises, so black and gold."

Every poem in this collection, from the aching "Sister" to the comical "Belly Dancer at the Hotel Jerome" to the lovely predictability of "Introduction to the 20th Century" brings fantasy and pleasure to the real. Dunn spins our boring reality into something intangible and surreal; he allows us to see with new eyes what might have been, what could be still. Circus of Needs is not his best collection (Between Angels gets my vote), but it is certainly unique and beautiful in its own right. From a lesser poet, this collection might be a pinnacle; from Dunn, it allows the reader to glimpse the distance he has traveled in his abilites and the possibilities open to him in the future.