Lights & Mysteries [Paperback]

Thomas Centolella (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Winner of the Lannan Literary Fellowship and an American Book Award for his first collection, Terra Firma (Copper Canyon., 1990), Centolella opens his new book with an intense round of personal love poems. Passionate and moving, they are just one aspect of this poet's "spiritual practice," which is "not to walk like a saint/ among the derelict, but to zero in on their muzzy eyes/ and give back their 'Hey man.' " Centolella's direct approach is rich with the day-to-day, documenting commercial and spiritual transactions with intelligence, music, and gentle humor. The poems drift like life rafts through the seedy mystery of West Coast city life, grounded in despair: "a cotton candy vendor so bent by the gods/ he was like a bird, his short spine parallel to the ground." But they are buoyant with epiphanies: "Intoxicating weather, like a drug from the East./ The moon full and Levantine, early lights on the hills,/ the locals floating to dinner on the magic carpet of the sidewalk." Careful and caring; highly recommended.
Ellen Kaufman, Gallery Lib., Smithsonian Inst., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Addis Ababa
Adoration
The Art Of Preservation
As It Was In The Beginning
At Big Rec
Augustine's City
Cereza Negra
The Day
Der Rosenmeister
Dojo
Evensong
Gentleman Of The Century
Green Gulch
I Forgot
In The Evening We Shall Be Exmained On Love
Journeyman
Joy
Lights And Mysteries
Little Song
Luck
Mountain Town
North Mission Market
Note
Ode
On My Street
The Order Of The Day
The Orders
Perfecta
The Plotting Of Desire
Powers
Prognosis
Provenance
The Raptors
Rosemary
Safe Passage
Sister
The Sweat Lodge
Tell Me Again About The Sacred
Tenderly
Touch
Tremor
The Woman Of Three Minds
X
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556591063
• ISBN-13: 978-1556591068
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,070,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some poets craft. Centolella creates., December 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Lights & Mysteries (Paperback)

Lights & Mysteries is not a collection of poems. Despite its table of contents and apparently standard form, Thomas Centolella's work is a journey. Between these two covers lies a path rich with love and inspired by careful observation. Centolella writes in an intense, acute and passionate style that honors his experiences and blesses his reader. Never before have I read poems so personally evocative. Never before have I been so enriched by language, rhythm and hope.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some poets craft. Centolella creates., December 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Lights & Mysteries (Paperback)

Lights & Mysteries is not a collection of poems. Despite its table of contents and apparently standard form, Thomas Centolella's work is a journey. Between these two covers lies a path rich with love and inspired by careful observation. Centolella writes in an intense, acute and passionate style that honors his experiences and blesses his reader. Never before have I read poems so personally evocative. Never before have I been so enriched by language, rhythm and hope.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, March 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Lights & Mysteries (Paperback)

I've just read "In the Evening we shall be Examined on Love." and it inspires and breaks the heart t once. Centolella might not have the name recognition of Mya Angelo, or other modern poets, but he schorched my sould deeper than they ever have or shall.