Fragments in Us (Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry) [Hardcover]

Dennis Trudell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry | Publication Date: September 1, 1996

In this collection of poems spanning thirty years of work, Dennis Trudell writes about the dense humanity of cities, about Chicago, basketball, an inner-city fire; about Vietnam and Central America; about sons and parents. Above all, he writes about the humility and humanity we gain from recognizing our ties to all our fellow sojourners on this earth, noticing that strangers and neighbors are often brave and resilient and lovely beyond reason. Inspired by such writers as Nelson Algren and Pablo Neruda, Trudell sees reason for hope and humor in a radical stance toward grim realities of the world.

Excerpt from The Art of Poetry
You can say anything.
That a young marine charging up a sand incline at Saipan
suddenly thought of mittens on a string.
That after hours in the museum
all is quiet: the Rubens in Trafalger Square,
for example, stay well within their frames.
That the lake of the mind no longer at civil war
must be lovely and quiet, with delightful small fish
nibbling near the surface.
That Rasputin’s toenails
must have been clipped by someone:
where are such traces now?
That the impossible sea
is heaving tonight at the flanks
of a ship with lights and music . . .
of many ships, carrying an unguessable number
of indiscretions, and not a few smokers
considering the jump.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Trudell's poems are densely populated; there are no serene mountain vistas, no laconic farmlands, in them. Instead, there are people: the fireman bringing out the bodies of children from their barred-windowed ghetto home and seeing the mother ("Her face was dead. I mean, / was stark numb pain . . . / She was younger / and older than you'll ever / be"); the lonely woman answering a personals ad; the homeless family at the fast-food stand; the middle-aged farm wives who fall in love with each other; the children of Central America. To read Trudell is to enter a city of deeply loved strangers, in which there is no distant tragedy, only the sorrow of the human family. Patricia Monaghan

From the Publisher

Winner of the 1996 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 72 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299152103
• ISBN-13: 978-0299152109
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,232,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.