Dialogue for the Left and Right Hand [Paperback]

Steven Cramer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 1997

His third and most diverse collection of poems to date.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dialogue For The Left And Right Hand is a diverse collection of poems orchestrating a complex interplay of voices: lyrical, colloquial, mordant, and (at times) enraged. Whether in fixed forms or free verse, these poems have an energy and architecture all their own. Here are sensuous memories and fictions of the spirit, etchings of people who come alive and walk with us through heaths of snow, and appeals to deities waiting for us at the top of the stairs. Sometimes narrative, sometimes startlingly associative, these poems reflect the skill of a master wordsmith plying the craft and passion of poetic expression. "Who spills a ring of gasoline/Across fresh-fallen snow, imagines/Cross hairs in his sights,/Then lights the edge/And flips the match out on his tongue. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Brookline Books/Lumen Editions (April 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571290338
• ISBN-13: 978-1571290335
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.4 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,840,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poems That Represent a Generation, August 18, 2000

By 

Thom in VA (VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dialogue for the Left and Right Hand (Paperback)

This is a memorable collection of poetry. Although the works included vary in subject matter and theme, the common thread is Cramer's simple and eloquent writing from his own experience as a forty-something American male at the end of the twentieth century.

One theme that recurs throughout the collection is the awareness of mortality, both our own and that of all life, that most of us develop as we reach middle age. The poems reflect an unyielding sadness in the face of the inevitability of illness and death; at the same time, they demonstrate an existential resignation to mortality as a necessary condition to human existence. Thus, in responding to the medical news of a friend, Cramer writes "All I did was hold on and say nothing,/Because the answer is there is no answer".

I find the most moving poems in the collection to be those in which Cramer deals with the loss of his parents. Both "December 9, 1993" and "Villanelle After a Burial" are deeply touching pieces. The latter in particular is noteworthy, as it represents a hauntingly beautiful use of a traditional poetic form by a poet who usually writes unbound by traditional formalism.

There is of course much, much more to this collection of poetry than this brief review can convey. Cramer has a gift for giving unique and memorable expression to experiences and emotions common to many of his peers. Many of us will recognize our own lives in his verse.