Customer Reviews

Interrogations at Noon

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New Formalist poet/critic Dana Gioia is known for his ground-breaking essay, "Can Poetry Matter?" This is his third book of poetry, and it is unlike anything produced by anyone else in America. Sicilian, Mexican and Native American in his ancestry, Gioia writes out of a "dark" Catholic sensibility--a sensibility which sees "the end of the world" in every sensuous detail around him. One of the advantages of Gioia's "formalism" is that it allows him to place deep personal experience within a form which, while deeply moving, simultaneously allows the reader to maintain a sense of esthetic distance. This tension between technical virtuosity and dark subject matter is reminiscent of the great nineteenth-century French poet, Charles Baudelaire--a Bohemian type who in other ways might be seen as Gioia's opposite. Full of strong poems by this native California--the strongest is probably "A California Requiem"--"Interrogations at Noon" is a fine introduction to one of the most thoughtful and original of American writers. Full of exquisite, mournful lines: "Think of the letters that we write our dead"; "We are like shadows the bright noon erases."

In my continuing (impossible) search for a poet whose every poem moves me, I read this collection by Dana Gioia. Gioia is known as a craftsman who publishes little because of his struggle bring every poem to the highest state of perfection. In fact, as one reads these poems, it is almost possible to sense how carefully every word has been chosen. In some cases, this almost becomes distracting, to the detriment of the poetry.

On the other hand, through his struggle Gioia is able to create some brilliant lines within poems whose overall effect is something less: "With eyes that have forgotten how to see/From viewing things already too well-known" from "Entrance." Or "The future shrinks/Whether the past/Is well or badly spent" from "Curriculum Vitae." Within poems like "Pentecost" and "Three Songs for Nosferatu" it is possible to find some wonderful work as well.

In this collection, however, there are two poems that I think are wonderful through and through. In "Juno Plots Her Revenge" Gioia takes us on a long rant as Juno lists her complaints against Jupiter's unfaithfulness and plans her final revenge against Hercules, one of Jupiter's bastards. Poems with classical references are often fun because the poet is able to let his hair down and be bold using a mythological goddess as a mouthpiece. There is more energy and engaging language in this longer poem than in almost all of Gioia's other poems put together. Wonderful!

But my favorite poem in this collection may be "My Dead Lover." In it, Gioia writes of a person mourning a great love ("Your body was the first I ever knew/Better than my own.") with whom he really didn't get along ("How miserable we were together, dear"). And yet he mourns anyway despite the fact that he was abandoned in this final way, without being allowed a chance to regret. Finally, he realizes "Our rituals are never for the dead." The dead are beyond caring but he must still make his peace with it. It is a very well done poem to which most of us can relate.

All in all, this is a collection well worth reading. There is no denying that Gioia is a real craftsman, no matter how one may ultimately feel about some of the poems. And there are some gems here that a poetry connoisseur should be loathe to miss.

My bias is toward poets who are more direct in what they are saying. This work I found a mix of stunning and hard to grasp poems. Still, the poems that reached me were enough to make me want to read more of this talented poet.

Gioia's latest collection is just as great as his first. He continues to show a wide range of skills (this time adding poems for music, including three songs from his wonderful libretto _Nosferatu_). The longer poem in the middle, Juno Plots Her Revenge, is a beautiful working of Seneca.

Dana Gioia is a poet and critic of international note who has authored a profusion of essays, reviews, translations, and anthologies. Now his own poetry is available to an appreciative public with the publication of Interrogations At Noon. Divination: Always be ready for the unexpected./Someone you have dreamed about may visit./Better clean house to make the right impression./There are some things you should not think about.//Someone you have dreamed about may visit./Is it an old friend you do not recognize?/There are some things you should not think about./Who is the stranger standing at the door?//Is it an old friend you do not recognize?/Notice the cool appraisal of his eyes./Who is the stranger standing at the door?/You sometimes wonder what you're waiting for.//Notice the cool appraisal of his eyes./Better clean house to make the right impression./You sometimes wonder what you're waiting for./Always be ready for the unexpected.