The Last Nostalgia: Poems 1982-1990 [Paperback]

Joe Bolton (Author), Donald Justice (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"In Atlanta once, on Peachtree Street,/ I met a woman and took her in my arms,/ Lifting her body to see the blond fire/ Of her hair flare against buildings, sky." When Bolton killed himself at the age of 28 in 1990, he was already recognized as one of the vital and compelling voices of his generation. Born in western Kentucky, he spent time in Texas, Florida, and Arizona, and it is the streets, faces, and voices of these locales that haunt his poems. They are, as one might expect, often dark, bleak, and lonely. "Page," dated only days before his suicide, wrestles with discomfort. "Reliance upon language was its undoing.../ But someday it will be all that is left of me./ Death bothers its margins like gulls along some shore." There is more to Bolton, though, than somber meditation: "That field I floated Shelly Solare's panties into./ Summer of 1979, their frail lace hung/ In moonlight forever above the dark rows of corn." There were epiphanies, moments that lifted his eyes from the dark to the heavens, or nearly so. What might have been.... Recommended.ALouis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Bolton submitted his third collection of poems, bearing the title of this book, as his master's thesis one day before committing suicide in 1990. He was 28. Depression is evident in his work, which recurrently recalls loves lost, quarreling parents, bouts of drinking, too hot southern summers, and the ends of summer and youth. But his poems do not constitute a litany of personal complaint. They are technically superb, both the formal, rhymed poems and the freer, informal ones; this is verse that pulses and sings. Their imagery is crystal clear and, despite often depicting cheap, depressing urban neighborhoods and bars, beautiful in the manner of film noir cinematography. He was a sexy guy who conjures well the shivery delights of lust. Because he was both a hard-drinking good ol' boy and a Wallace Stevens^-reading aesthete, he appreciated and was depressed by the brutalities he grew up with in rural and small-town western Kentucky, a region of great beauty and deprivation. Briefly introducing his selection from the 500-odd poems Bolton left, the honored senior poet Donald Justice signally notes, "There is nothing, [Bolton] wrote, `That is not beautiful or that will last.'" That perception permeates his poetry, much to our rueful delight. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press; 1st edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557285586
• ISBN-13: 978-1557285584
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #543,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Bible, April 4, 2001

By 

Heather Russell (Portage, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Nostalgia: Poems 1982-1990 (Paperback)

Whenever I think I don't have any more poems to write, I turn to Joe. He found the rational in the irrational, the sane in the insane. He made everything real. Every normalcy was overturned for me because of him. His need to examine what is right in front of our eyes was extremely... EXTREME. I'm just so sad I never had the opportunity to meet him.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, beautiful, July 13, 2000

By 

Michael Mayes - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Nostalgia: Poems 1982-1990 (Paperback)

The work is haunting and beautiful. This is an essential book for poets/readers who love the harsh and beautiful light of Raymond Carver or the lyric beauty of classic poetry. A tragedy he's not here to write more. I attended the same MFA program as the writer. He had an affect on the entire program for years.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book of poems (by a new poet) in years, July 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Nostalgia: Poems 1982-1990 (Paperback)

This is how words should be used. Beautiful. Seductive. Lyrical. Bleak, and underneathh all that, a celebration of (or a yearning for) simplicity. A numinousity emanates from Bolton's work. His verse is intimate, intensely beautiful, whole -- and yes, it will last. He was by far the best of the young poets of his time.