With an economy of line and focus on nature that has deep roots in the New England traditions of Thoreau and Robert Frost, Philip Booth writes poetry that evokes crystalline images of sea, woods, and fields and explores the timeless themes of love, uncertainty, and responsibility. With many of Booth's early works now out of print, Lifelines presents a unique opportunity to become reacquainted with one of the major voices in contemporary American poetry.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Booth (Relations) has spent half a century writing humbly meditative lyrics and quiet, compassionate verse about his life amid the people and sights of coastal Maine. This generous collection offers most of the work from his previous nine books, along with 17 new poems, many of them moving evocations of old age. Booth brings in Maine's ocean, boats, houses, terrain and longtime residents, from lobster traps to "Four straight days/ below zero," to rock-climbers "feeling for handholds... cheek to cold stone," to boat-builders and log-choppers, to the "rip-tide/ paint" in John Marin's canvases "that, flooding,/ tugs at your vitals,/ and is more Maine/ than Maine." Alongside this regionalist agenda come invocations of saintly writersAThoreau and Chekhov, among others, put in repeat appearances. Booth seeks to be comprehensible to all his readers, and to offer simple wisdom. His aurally careful, short-lined and abstract free verse may remind readers of Robert Creeley, who also aims "to/ say the feeling, its/ present shape." But too often Booth relies on flat, abstracted exhortation, and on oversimplified psychology. In "Cleaning Out the Garage" he resolves "to let go what won't do"; later he "mean[s]... to let light/ fall where it would," "to revise his whole life," "to be alone with/ myself," "to learn with/ myself to be// gentle," "to keep believing in love." (Italics his.) Booth does better when describing ill-fated lives: "Calendar," for example, offers a spare, deeply frightening account of a woman's stroke. If Booth's self-imposed limits hinder his poems for some, the same traits will make him a cherished companion for others, who will enjoy his attempts to make his verse embody compassion and self-restraintAnot to mention his sensitive pictures of Maine. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
For many readers, the half-century of poetry collected here will recall Robert Frost--the lines are laconic, reflective, and often informed by Booth's New England background (in this case, Maine). Of course, Booth would not be so admirable if he simply waxed poetic about snow falling from the roof. What makes these poems remarkable is the way he calmly looks life--and death--in the eye and doesn't blink.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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This review is from: Lifelines: Selected Poems 1950-1999 (Poets, Penguin) (Mass Market Paperback)
Phillip Booth pulls out the miracles of everyday life. Big philosophy in small poems; big lessons from our routines of the days.
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