Crossing the Equator: New and Selected Poems 1972-2004 [Paperback]

Nicholas Christopher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2007

Nicholas Christopher has been praised as one of America’s most important poets by such literary talents as John Ashbery, Charles Simic, James Merrill, and Anthony Hecht. Crossing the Equator collects Christopher’s best work from the past three decades and includes a section of new poems that are among his finest.

Cold missiles and a rain

of embers accompany the men

who slide like shadows into the city

faces mud-smeared

stones for teeth no eyes

who slit the throats of everyone

they encounter until breaking down

my door they drag me into the darkness

that floods the corridor

and lock me in an icy chamber

—from "THE LAST HOURS OF LAÓDIKÊ, SISTER OF HEKTOR"

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

"14 rue Serpentine: A Paris Notebook," one of the new poems with which Christopher begins this three-decade retrospective, assumes what has become the poet's signature form: episodic narrative achieved by means of short scenes, as in an art film, with swift cuts and special effects. Christopher, who is also the author of four novels and a study of film noir, is an enjoyably indulgent director: "You're dreaming of the velodrome / the rings of Saturn spinning / with riders who blur away / like those fast-motion films / of flowers blossoming and dying." He asserts, "Sometimes it's not hours but years that pass in a single day," and that is precisely the sensation induced by this dreamlike and highly visual collection, where punctuation is often scarce and the plausible—a girl in a yellow bikini drinking Campari, say—can quickly turn surreal.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

PRAISE FOR CROSSING THE EQUATOR

"To read [Christopher’s] richly honed and sensuous work, which has so much tensile strength, is to visit other worlds and then return to our own, disturbed by time, but also refreshed and reawakened."—THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD

"Nicholas Christopher[’s] . . . three decades of poems, lyric and narrative, can be read through with enormous pleasure and considerable wonder."—LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (April 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015603140X
• ISBN-13: 978-0156031400
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 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: #761,945 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 A beautiful book., April 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Crossing the Equator: New and Selected Poems 1972-2004 (Hardcover)

Someone recently told me he didn't like poetry because it was too hard to read and not passionate. I pointed him to Crossing the Equator and said, "This book, and this poet, will change your mind." The book collects the best of Christopher's very rich and varied body of poetry and as such, it is a treasure trove. Each vivid sexy poem is a jewel in whose facets you will see a great deal -- even if you don't usually read poetry.