Customer Reviews

Everything Else in the World: Poems

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Over time, Stephen Dunn has dared to tackle the intangible as well as the concrete. This is in addition to the multitudinous sides of human existence he has always explored. Dunn does not reveal what we want to know about ourselves, but what we need to know. Just like in _Riffs & Reciprocities_, where opposites found similarities and agreement and common bonds within each other, so do the explorations of this fine poet in this collection touch upon not only the light and dark, but the softly illuminated as well. From taking on the challenge of explicating the adulterer to the point of empathy and maybe unwilling agreement with the reader, to the wisdom of self that comes through the revealing of dark family secrets, Dunn rubs the tarnish off of hidden heirlooms that may still never make their way out to the mantle to be proudly displayed, but will make themselves a little more relevant to your daily chores. Dunn is someone to read a little more of every morning to make help make your day a little more meaningful.

Still enjoying the book...have read the first half of the book in one sitting and the mundaneness of life (having to go to work) has forced me to delay reading the rest...

ANyone who can write like this ...is a genius!

EMPTINESS

I've learned mine can't be filled,
only alchemized. Many times
it's become a paragraph or a page.
But usually I've hidden it,
not knowing until too late
how enormous it grows in its dark.

...

This small book by Pulitzer Prize winner, Stephen Dunn, was a very quick and enjoyable read. Mr. Dunn sums up some of our ordinary thoughts and feelings in the poems Lucky and The Lost Thing. In Replicas, Mr. Dunn provides insight into the masks that many people wear to cocktail parties where appearances can be very deceiving.

The poem Signs illustrates some of the ridiculous connotations in some of our traditional signage, such as Slow Children and Falling Rock Zone. In his words are the memory of a kiss, the aura of the aftermath of making love and Mr. Dunn's attempt to memorialize time. These are all moments that we share in common, just like everything and everyone else in the world. It is in our sense of commonality that we identify with these simple portraits preserved for all time by the written word.

Dunn well deserved the Pulitzer. His body of work is impressive and while this voulme is good, it is not one of best but still a joy. He ruminates on life from the perspective of age, "A Small Part"(many summers later I'd learn to love/the shadows illumination creates/but experience always occurs too late/to undo what's been done). And he imparts the wisdom of having seen a lot over a very long time in "Critics" ("Their job is sometimes to winnow/and omit.Yours is to go on...your job is to show up,continue on.") For first timers, try"Bewteen Angels" or "Local Visitations."