Loosestrife: Poems [Hardcover]

Stephen Dunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1996

"Dunn's new poems are driven by the same tireless force that made his New and Selected Poems (1994) so powerful, but there is a new tone here, a deepening of his recognition of life's perversities."—Booklist

In this tenth collection, Stephen Dunn turns his "wise, well-practiced eye" (Library Journal) on an America growing ever more stringent with its daily mercies. Not content merely to observe the world, Dunn's stance is always dual, complicit. And as he navigates through each paradox of his moral and aesthetic and erotic selves, this poet, described by Sydney Lea as one "who remains open to contradictions," travels to a place of exact and complicated vision.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dunn's new collection of poetry, the first since his New & Selected Poems 1974-1994, explores interior worlds of human loneliness and exterior worlds of Darwinian animal struggle. Broken relationships figure prominently in the human world, with a sense of loss that kills free will: "Everything was clear, and nothing much/the better for it./ They agreed it was a matter of caring,/ and each felt the dull courage that comes/ from caring less." With the animals, free will is absent anyway, and the savage realities come inevitably as instinct--as when a tiger cub raised by goats discovers its carnivorous and lethal nature. The common thread in many poems is the acknowledgment of a crushing determinism.

From Publishers Weekly

Dunn's graceful and stirring collection is a walk through an ecosystem where loneliness is breathed in with the air and the wildlife takes on all too human problems. Dunn (Work & Love; Landscape at the End of the Century) begins with notes from the foggy valley of the broken relationship ("his mind cut loose/ from his heart/ like a dinghy in cold, still water"). Free will is supplanted by the inevitability of loss, and nothing can save romance: "Everything was clear, and nothing much/ the better for it./ They agreed it was a matter of caring,/ and each felt the dull courage that comes/ from caring less." In following poems, there may be fewer sad humans, but the animals have inherited the melancholy. A tiger cub raised by goats discovers its nature and "A lone tern turns in the blowsy wind." By the time we reach the concluding 10-part title poem, we are fixed in a real place, the woodlands of Southern New Jersey. There the unusually warm winter of 1995 is host to the little deaths, spiritual and corporeal, that accompany a false spring.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (September 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039303982X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393039825
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,875,223 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dunn Examines the Dark Side, December 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Loosestrife: Poems (Hardcover)

This is one of the better offerings from one of the better postmodern poets. Dunn, an academic, is amazingly proficient at avoiding the talkativeness of the academy poets, and he seems able to finish a poem without forcing it, a real treat. "Tuscon" involves a variation of evil encountered in a redneck bar, and is effective, and ditto for "Wild," set in Spain during what I would assume was the poet's youthful, "hippie" interlude. I especially enjoyed "Grace," a poem concerning the 1993 Phillies, in particular pitcher Terry Mulholland's willingness to forgive Mitch Williams for his unpardonable sin. Best of all, however, is the title piece ("Loosestrife") which concludes the book. From the vantage of his rural South Jersey home,Dunn reflects on Nature, on impending political change in Washington (circa 1994),and the changing seasons."The impatient, upstart crocuses/ and daffodils fell once again/ for the lies of March./They simply wanted to exist. The warm sun must have said Now, /and they gave themselves/ to that first, hardly refusable touch." Thanks to Dunn, and to the likes of Gluck (The Wild Iris)and Dobyns(Cemetery Nights), well written poetry, enjoyable poetry, poetry capable of exploring the mortal, the sinister, and the tragic, appears to be making a comeback.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of poems, September 13, 2005

By 

Callie Worsham "calliea" (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loosestrife: Poems (Paperback)

Stephen Dunn is a wonderful contemporary poet. His poems are witty, sublime and sometimes humorous. This is a quick read, but a also a must read.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loosestrife Poems are #1, May 9, 2000

By 

Stephy (Ligonier, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Loosestrife: Poems (Paperback)

I have recently read the book Loosestrife: Poems, and i highlyrecommend it. Stephen Dunn has magnificently described Purpleloosestrife and it's threat to our society! Please read this book andstop the spread of purple loosestrife! These poems are an inspiration to everyone! I recommend that everyone read this book! THANK YOU Stephen Dunn!