The Evening Sun : A Journal in Poetry [Paperback]

David Lehman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2002

The eagerly awaited follow-up to his critically acclaimed collection The Daily Mirror, The Evening Sun gathers together 150 of David Lehman's favorite "daily poems" from 1999 and 2000 into a brilliant chronicle of a poet's heart and mind as the last century ends and a new one begins.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The serial method of this poem-a-day "journal," a sequel to 2000's The Daily Mirror, allows Lehman to try on several suits in the course of 100-plus pages on April 22, he is a nihilistic sharpshooter as he mock denies the events of the Holocaust in a sort of list-curse ("nor were the windows of synagogues and Jewish shopkeepers/ smashed in November 1938"), while two days later he is ruminating, like a Dada Seinfeld, on the fact that many people mean "fuck you" when they say "thank you," but never the converse: "All roads lead to the Rome of `fuck you'/ get it?" These page-or-less poems, while they can be formally quite refined, often come off as skilled but unambitious pastiches of the styles of the New York School poets Lehman has written about in The Last Avant-Garde and elsewhere: Ashbery, Koch, O'Hara, and the like. The ingredients, somewhat updated, are often there Nicole Kidman and Ben Affleck, autumn leaves and French rap music, as well as several unnamed lovers but Lehman's speaker affects a courtly, sometimes brash humor that most often reads like a disguise for a clinical indifference: "They now call/ downtown New York/ ...the `canyon of heroes'/ a great phrase/ that I shall use/ for the canal zone between/ your lovely lithe legs," ends one failed (pre9/11) attempt at Herrick-like eros. Lehman's compulsive chronicle is at its best when his joke-machine is unfettered by self-reflection and he's got a few historical references to throw around ("George Steinbrenner/ is as frightened of the Mets/ as Nixon was of the brothers Kennedy"), giving readers a carefully tempered New York tinged with the tone of earlier greats. (Apr.) Forecast: Lehman edits the Best American Poetry (Scribner) and Poets on Poetry (Michigan) series, curates a reading series at New York's KGB Bar which resulted in the KGB Reader (Morrow) and is on the core faculty of the writing programs at New York's New School and Vermont's Bennington College. His frequent reviewing and nonfiction work give him a high profile outside of poetry; expect solid sales in and out of the academy, and possible post-September 11 New York interest, though these poems were written in 2000.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This volume comes on the heels of The Daily Mirror, Lehman's first experiment with writing a poem a day. As he says in his introduction, he had so much fun that "I didn't want to give up the habit" when that book was completed. Fun is the operative word here. Lehman toys not only with language but with the journal form itself, juxtaposing poems from a two-year period as if only a year has passed and even supplying new dates for poems that overlap. Lehman, who has written extensively on the New York School poets, draws on their sense of the everyday, but he's also able to break through their limited concerns and experiences. His erudition is displayed in the variety of subjects the poems touch on: jazz, the Greek classics, Heisenberg, politics, fatherhood, and the stock market. To a greater or lesser degree, the majority of the poems focus on sex or death, including the death of his father. It's slightly ironic that Lehman, general editor of "The Best American Poetry" annuals, might not find here a single poem worthy of inclusion, but the volume as a whole nevertheless delights. Recommended for most collections. Rochelle Ratner, formerly with "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Original edition (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074322552X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743225526
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,495,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Journal in Poetry, March 23, 2002

By 

Maria C. Leng (Townsend, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Evening Sun : A Journal in Poetry (Paperback)

In the "Evening Sun," David Lehman expresses a poetic sensibility that is rich, deep, and moving. He has captured the personal and the powerful in the memory of days. May 28 and September 18th are my favorites, and it seems odd as one is historical and the other shows the beautiful presence of the poet's voice. I've read a lot of David Lehman's verse and find remarkable here each poem's surprising, powerful, and apropos ending. I closed the "Evening Sun" longing for another poem. I think you will, too.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goodbye Instructions: Purchase This Book!, May 22, 2002

By 

Lewis R. Saul "lsaul" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Evening Sun : A Journal in Poetry (Paperback)

Even though I haven't appeared in one of David's poems since 1990's "Cambridge 1972" where I met Becky and mistook Joan Miró for a woman -- you probably haven't either! You should still buy this fantastic book of poems!

David will take you to great baseball games (10/9, 10/16, 4/3); share the best music in nearly EVERY poem -- (Mahler on 7/19; Mingus on 11/30; John Cage, Alban Berg {didn't I *first* play his violin concerto for you so many years ago!} and many more)...

You will laugh you will cry you will giggle you will sigh.

Okay, I'll leave the poetry to David.

This is the E-TICKET ride of poetry books. Get it.