Customer Reviews

Front Lines (City Lights Pocket Poets Series)

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I recently attended a reading by Jack Hirschman and was transfixed not only by his presentation, which is superb, but by his deeply felt message, poetic to a fault, a poetry that urges us all to be much better than we are. Jack is a revolutionary whose poetic imagery, as well as his politics, are born of the heart--born of knowing the full capacity of the human spirit. The U.S. is blessed for poets like him. He uses the art of poetry as the greatest artisans of language do; respectful, knowing his craft, while sharing the wisdom that just might prod us toward creating a better world. These poems span the years from 1952 to the present, so there's a lot of history here; in the process, the poetry itself mirrors back the poet's own growth,literary skill, patience with his fellow beings, and compassion. I applaud City Lights for publishing this man. He's an important writer.

Jack Hirschman is a living legend. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the founder and publisher of City Lights, has called him 'one of the three best poets in America today'. This book proves his point over and over. Selected from 50 years of writings by Hirschman, the book is comprehensive as it gets. He is a committed writer. He is for real, no bull, no poses, no posturing,no safety nets,no academia nonesense - none of that stuff. We need this man - now more than ever.