Counting Thunder [Paperback]

Robert Bernard Hass (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: WordTech Communications (August 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934999245
• ISBN-13: 978-1934999240
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,975,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Counting Thunder" by Robert Bernard Hass - a Masterpeice in Poetic Literature, November 9, 2008

By 

Martha J. Rogus (Warren, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Counting Thunder (Paperback)

Counting Thunder by Robert Bernard Hass serves as an inspiration to the casual reader, a resource for those interested in writing, and for those studying poetry for literary value.

Along with evoking a sense of human constraint, Dr. Hass's poems encompass poetic form and a sense of surrealism in "Siren", "Fairytale", and "On Envy, Obligation, and Art". Patterning and rhythm are repeated throughout his book, but especially in "Anorexic", "Aubade", "Victorian Bride", "The Lesson", and "Skunk Cabbage". You get a strong sense of place in "Boston Market" and can almost hear the fishmongers cracking oysters long the cobblestone streets of Boston. Dr. Hass' use of enjambments are impressive and fluid in the book's namesake poem "Counting Thunder", and also in "The Horses of Achilles", and "The Horses of Achilles II" as he carries you along a visual encounter with the natural world. Dr. Hass' ecological sense of style provides an educational aspect in "In the Clearing", which is about the demise of the American Chestnut Tree (by the way, a small tree stand remains in the Allegheny National Forest where oil prospectors would like to drill) and "A Poem for our Climate", which is about the consequences of global warming. These poems offer a sprinkle of fleeting hope that environmental issues could be made better if we would only listen. The power of silence, insightfulness with others, and the powers of perception are at work in "Catharsis", as well. The eloquent "Song Against Despair" signifies a sense of a religious and spiritual hope, as does "Fortune", which is about Jesus' miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead. A passion for one's favorite things in life, are made ready in "My Favorite Book" and "Horse". As an aspiring nature and travel writer, my two favorites are the courageous and adventurous, "The Moral of the Story" and "Monarchs", but I have to include the playful, "Mexico" and "Murphy: A Life" in my list of favorites.

Counting Thunder reminds me of a line from Desiderata (1692), "...With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world..."

I think Counting Thunder is a must for every bookshelf and one to be read on a regular basis, if only to make sense of life through Dr. Hass' ability to amplify life's simple and complicated moments into powerful, concentrated, and meaningful words. I hope Dr. Hass will find it in his heart and schedule to share and publish more of his poetry for our continuing enrichment in creative thought.

Thoughtfully submitted,
November 9, 2008
Martha J. Rogus

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good man, good poet, November 3, 2008

By 

Michael Haider "MJH-JTR" (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Counting Thunder (Paperback)

I've had the pleasure of knowing Bob and having him for class. He is a good poet and a good man. This book is the culmination of twenty years of work. Hass has absorbed his craft to the marrow of his bones. This book is well worth the wait.

4.0 out of 5 stars The promising beginning, December 14, 2008

By 

Charles J. Marr (Cambridge Springs, Pa USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Counting Thunder (Paperback)

Bob Hass has a healthy respect for the sounds as well as the implications of words.You will not be confronted with cacophony or infelicity in this volume. Nor will you find the continued conversation after someone has left the room which is characteristic of contemporary poetic practice. This is solid, intelligent - witty and urbane (if barn chores can be clssified as urbane.) After all he includes a translation of Horace and some from the German as well. While nothing here soars, it flies well. Maybe not yet a Pegasus but certainly a Secreteriat.