Continued (Wesleyan Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Piotr Sommer (Author), August Kleinzahler (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Wesleyan Poetry Series | Publication Date: April 15, 2005

Continued is a selection of poems by Piotr Sommer, spanning his career to date. A kind of poetic utterance, these "talk poems" are devoid of any singsong quality yet faithfully preserve all the melodies and rhythms of colloquial speech. Events and objects of ordinary, everyday life are related and described by the speaker in a deliberately deadpan manner. Yet a closer look at the language he uses, with all its ironic inflections and subtle "intermeanings," reveals that the poem's "message" should be identified more with the way it is spoken than with what it says. The poems in this volume were translated into English with the help of other notable poets, writers, and translators, including John Ashbery, D.J. Enright, and Douglas Dunn.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If you admire the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz and especially Wislawa Szymborska, seek out Piotr Sommer. Based on Continued, ...Sommer deserves a place alongside these philosophically alert Polish poets."--John Taylor, Antioch Review

Review

"Piotr Sommer is the great poet of 'everyday loneliness, contrary to your self, perhaps.' Like Frank O'Hara, whom he has translated into Polish, he is on the lookout for what he calls "improper names"--the very ones that allow us to construe the unkempt and taciturn world that surrounds us." (John Ashbery )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan (April 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081956768X
• ISBN-13: 978-0819567680
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,435,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short Poems, Very Moving, May 14, 2005

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Toucan Sam (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Continued (Wesleyan Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Sommer's poems prove that words - words! - can make you fall in love. I only wish I could turn my own day-to-day memories into such touching and wryly funny vignettes. The poems are short, and not intimidating, yet they go deep. Definitely worth reading, even if you usually don't read poetry.