Men of Our Time: An Anthology of Male Poetry in Contemporary America [Paperback]

Fred Moramarco (Editor), Al Zolynas (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1992

In this groundbreaking volume, Fred Moramarco and Al Zolynas bring together a comprehensive and widely representative selection of poetry reflecting both the diversity and commodity of male experience in the United States today.

Since the beginning of the contemporary phase of the women's movement in the 1960s, various anthologies devoted to the poetry of women have articulated and defined a distinctive sensibility attuned to the particularities of a woman's life in our time. Although much has been written recently about the male role in our society as well, the discussion generally has assumed a sociopsychological or mythic perspective. Poetry, Moramarco and Zolynas believe, can reveal most about the nature of male life today, especially the enormous changes men have experienced in recent years.

As the editors state in their introduction, "A quiet revolution has been taking place in men's poetry over the past few decades, as men have been chronicling the 'history of their hearts' and have been examining those relationships central to their being in the world: their connections to their fathers and mothers; their own sense of fatherhood and of being sons and brothers; their marriages, divorces, and other aspects of their love lives; as well as the ways they conceive of maleness and femaleness."

The poems collected in Men of Our Time--257 from more than 170 poets--include a wide mix of ethnic and racial perspectives that reflect the multicultural tenor of American life. They reveal men's most intimate feelings about the loss of childhood, sexual anxieties and fantasies, aging, self-sufficiency and dependency, and the perennial quest for a masculine identity. Above all, the poems are unapologetically grounded in a distinctly male experience or imagination. Men of Our Time reclaims a poetry that is connected to and expressive of men's lives in the closing decade of the twentieth century.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Moramarco ( Modern American Poetry ) and Zolynas ( The New Physics ) have selected 247 poems written by men to demonstrate the effect of gender on interior life. The volume's organization--according to topics such as "Boys Becoming Men" and "Sons Seeing Fathers"--is unfortunate. Even with tragic subjects, the loss of a child, for example (there are five such poems back to back), repetition wearies the reader and diminishes the power of individual works. Moreover, the writing is wildly uneven. A few of the poems are deservedly well-known, such as Richard Wilbur's "Boy at the Window," first published in the early '50s. But most of the verse is flat, reflecting what the editors call the "feeling self" while exhibiting very little technical discipline. The editors' introduction links modernists Pound and Eliot to a tradition of "conventional American maleness," a turning away from sentimentality. The selections here were made to oppose that canon. This is not an elitist collection; the authors represent all races and all ages of men. But scant attention is paid to the music of poetry and the deeper complications of imagination.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Parting Since by Jack Agueros
Hot Summernight Cloudburst Rendezvous by Antler [pseud.]
Playing Dead Love by Antler [pseud.]
Chopping A Mother's Piano by Charles Atkinson
Family Ties by Jimmy Santiago Baca
Sun Prayer, Fr. Child Of The Sun - Gabriel's Birth by Jimmy Santiago Baca
Words For My Daughter by John Balaban
Dara by Gerald William Barrax
The Fourth Son by Gerald William Barrax
Opening Up by Joe David Bellamy
Asylum Days by Michael Benedikt
Late Spring by Stephen Berg
The Hearts Of Men by Michael Blumenthal
The Man Who Needed No One by Michael Blumenthal
Stones by Michael Blumenthal
A Man Writes To A Part Of Himself by Robert Bly
My Father At 85 by Robert Bly
A Third Body by Robert Bly
Terminal Reports: Defective Wiring by James Richard Broughton
Terminal Reports: In The Senex Crib by James Richard Broughton
Bullfinch Knew by Eric Brown
Peter And Thunder by Michael Dennis Browne
Cleaning The Chimney by Joseph Bruchac
Fom An Inmate Rule Book by Joseph Bruchac
Walking At Night With My Son, James by Joseph Bruchac
O Tempora! O Mores! by Charles Bukowski
Sticks And Stones ... by Charles Bukowski
Whorehouse by Charles Bukowski
My Dad's Wallet by Raymond Carver
My Daughter And Apple Pie by Raymond Carver
The Lesson, Fr. Stoic Pose by Cyrus Curtis Cassells
The Magic Cat Bone, Fr. A Childhood by Cyrus Curtis Cassells
Breaking Bones by Philip Cioffari
Home by Philip Cioffari
Mario Lanza Defeats Luciano Pavrotti In A Tenor Competition by David Citino
Night Journey by David Citino
No Palooka by Michael Cleary
What Heathens Do During Midnight Mass by Michael Cleary
A Black Soldier Remembers by Horace Coleman
Ok Corral East Brothers In The Nam by Horace Coleman
My Enemy by Victor Contoski
Sarah Cornish by Sam Cornish
Memory, 1930 by Robert Creeley
Mother's Voice by Robert Creeley
Crime by Philip Dacey
One Of The Boys by Philip Dacey
Porno Love by Philip Dacey
My Father In The Distance by Leo Dangel
Passing The Orange by Leo Dangel
The Parking Lot by Glover Davis
Tattoos by Glover Davis
At Sixty by Peter Davison
Mother & Child #3 by Peter Davison
Ice by Michael Delp
My Mother's Nightmares by Emanuel Di Pasquale
Adultery by James Dickey
The Hospital Window by James Dickey
Black Dog, Red Dog by Stephen Dobyns
Wind Chimes by Stephen Dobyns
Burn Victim by Joseph Duemer
Love Song: I And Thou by Alan Dugan
To A Colleague. From The Country by Alan Dugan
My Mother Would Be A Falconress by Robert Duncan
Briefcases by Stephen Elliott Dunn
Men Talk by Stephen Elliott Dunn
Mon Semblable by Stephen Elliott Dunn
Brass Knuckles by Stuart John Dybek
My Father's Fights by Stuart John Dybek
My Mother, If She Had Won Free Dance Lessons by Cornelius Robert Eady
Ameriki: Book I, Part 8 by George Economou
Hunting by William Daniel Ehrhart
Moments When The World Consents by William Daniel Ehrhart
Secrets by William Daniel Ehrhart
Love Song by Theodore Vernon Enslin
From Pinetop Hill by Don Eulert
Poem Without A Metaphor by David Allan Evans
The Father by Donald Finkel
War Story: 1942 by Charles Fishman
A Letter Home by Roland Flint
The Age Of Reason: 1 by Richard Mcdonnell Flynn
The Age Of Reason: 2 by Richard Mcdonnell Flynn
The Age Of Reason: 4 by Richard Mcdonnell Flynn
The Age Of Reason: 6 by Richard Mcdonnell Flynn
The Age Of Reason: 7 by Richard Mcdonnell Flynn
First Marriage by Kenneth Gangemi
David by George Palmer, Jr. Garrett
Mark by Paul Louis Gianoli
Quickie by Paul Louis Gianoli
Saints: 4. Just Crazy Thinking by William Reginald Gibbons
Horizontal Cosmology: 6. The Facts by Christopher Gilbert
Touching by Christopher Gilbert
Sects by Jack Gilbert
Walking Home Across The Island by Jack Gilbert
First Practice by Gary Gildner
The Man And The Goshawk by Gary Gildner
Don't Grow Old by Allen Ginsberg
Alan Valeriano Sees A Lynch Mob by Vince Gotera
Hospital Thoughts, Last Year And Today by Vince Gotera
My Rodeo by Marcus Jack Grapes
She Fuck And I Fuck by Marcus Jack Grapes
Heart by William Henry, Jr. Greenway
Son And Heir by William Henry, Jr. Greenway
The Day I Was Older by Donald Hall
Merle Bascom's .22 by Donald Hall
Deathwatch by Michael S. Harper
Discovery by Michael S. Harper
A Story About The Body by Robert Hass
Those Winter Sundays by Robert Earl Hayden
Shall I Teach My Daughter To Fear The Ocean by Jim Heynen
Baseball by Norman Hindley
Getaway by Norman Hindley
All Petrarca by Anselm Hollo
Cousin by David Huddle
Where You Go When She Sleeps by T. R. Hummer
Each Day by David Ignatow
A Requiem by David Ignatow
His Gravity Was A Bell That Shall Be Rung by Lance Jeffers
The Ice Fisherman by Louis Jenkins
The Lost Boy by Louis Jenkins
Sailors by Louis Jenkins
Blind Girl At The Singles Bar by Nick Johnson
Under The Maud Moon by Galway Kinnell
A Stepfather, A Child by Michael Klein
Feeling Fucked Up by Etheridge Knight
Hard Rock Returns To Prison From The Hospital For The Criminal Insane by Etheridge Knight
Dear Teacher by Ronald Boyd Koertge
Girl Talk by Ronald Boyd Koertge
Men & Women by Ronald Boyd Koertge
No Love In This House by Yusef Komunyakaa
Starlight Scope Myopia by Yusef Komunyakaa
We Never Know by Yusef Komunyakaa
Crossing The Desert by Steve Mark Kowit
The Rose by Steve Mark Kowit
A Swell Idea by Steve Mark Kowit
Father Songs: Father Gently by Jay Ladin
Father Songs: Father Gladly by Jay Ladin
Father Songs: Father Gravely by Jay Ladin
Father Songs: Father Grossly by Jay Ladin
Father Songs: Father Guiltily by Jay Ladin
Phone Call by David Lee
Water by Li-young Lee
Vietnam Memorial by David Lehman
1933 by Philip Levine
Baby Villon by Philip Levine
You Can Have It by Philip Levine
The Best Year Of Her Life by Gerald Locklin
A Dear Gerald Note by Gerald Locklin
On The Rack by Gerald Locklin
Giant Red Woman by Clarence Major
Young Woman by Clarence Major
Alveoli by Jack Marshall
Change Of Address by William Matthews
All The Dead Soldiers by Thomas Mcgrath
The Bald Spot by Wesley Mcnair
To My Father, Dying In A Supermarket by Wesley Mcnair
The Spring Father Stopped Snowing by William Joseph Meissner
Peter by James Ingram Merrill
The Houses by William Stanley Merwin
Couplets: #9 by Robert Mezey
Undressing Aunt Frieda by Richard Michelson
Down Home by Jim Wayne Miller
My Father's Kitchen by John Minczeski
Intimate Men by Irving Moen
For Nicholas by Fred Moramarco
Irreconcilable Differences by Fred Moramarco
Shaking by Robert Morgan
Whiskey Tree by Robert Morgan
The Emergency Room by David Mura
Grandfather-in-law by David Mura
Peur Eternis by Peter Najarian
Family Circle by Leonard Edward Nathan
Just Looking, Thank You by Leonard Edward Nathan
Toast by Leonard Edward Nathan
Street Kid by Duane Niatum
The Evergreen by John Frederick Nims
Vasectomy: A Poem In Two Parts by Patrick O'leary
My Penis by Ed Ochester
Walking Around The Farm by Ed Ochester
Noon by Perry Oldham
Talking With Her by Antony Oldknow
My Father's Song by Simon J. Ortiz
Ghost Story by Mark Osaki
Mentor by Mark Osaki
Rite by Richard Oyama
Basket Case by Basil T. Paquet
On The Life And Death Of Stan Laurel's Son by Walter David Pavlich
The Floating World by Mark M. Perlberg
Dream Ladders by George Perreault
The Butchering by Robert Peters
The Poet As Actor, You As Director by Robert Peters
Song For A Son by Robert Peters
History Of My Heart: 1 by Robert Pinsky
History Of My Heart: 2 by Robert Pinsky
History Of My Heart: 3 by Robert Pinsky
History Of My Heart: 4 by Robert Pinsky
History Of My Heart: 5 by Robert Pinsky
Standing In The Reception Line At The Wedding Of My Ex-wife by James Walter Plath
Steps To Break The Circle by Sterling D. Plumpp
Raspberry by Charles Potts
Vietnam Incidents by Leroy V. Quintana
Late Night Ode by Quintus Horatius Flaccus
Mater Dolorosa by Bin Ramke
Turning Forty In Denver by Bin Ramke
Distances by Michael Dennis Rattee
Long Fingers by Michael Dennis Rattee
The Runaway by Michael Dennis Rattee
Bhopal by David Ray
Glimpse On Our Wedding Day by David Ray
Epigrams For My Father: 1 by Eugene B. Redmond
Epigrams For My Father: 2 by Eugene B. Redmond
Epigrams For My Father: 3 by Eugene B. Redmond
Epigrams For My Father: 4 by Eugene B. Redmond
Epigrams For My Father: 5 by Eugene B. Redmond
.05 by Ishmael Reed
Poison Light by Ishmael Reed
Dad's Excuse by Carlos Reyes
Poem For Nina Heloise by Carlos Reyes
Coach On Vacation by Jack Rogers Ridl
Morning by Alberto Alvaro Rios
Pictures Looked At Once More by Alberto Alvaro Rios
A Year Has Passed Already, So by William Pitt Root
B*r*m*tz*v*h by Jerome Rothenberg
The Shoebox by Mark Rudman
Spider Plant by Michael Ryan
Inventing A Family by Dennis Saleh
Cynthia by Harvey Shapiro
For Wcw by Harvey Shapiro
My Father's Show by Richard Silberg
Negura De Timp by Richard Silberg
Breasts by Charles Simic
Primer by Charles Simic
A Friend by William Dewitt Snodgrass
Axe Handles by Gary Snyder
The New Movies by Gary Soto
Shopping For A Woman by Gary Soto
Taking The Movies To The Streets by Gary Soto
He Wanted To Show Me by Peter Spiro
Tone Deaf by Peter Spiro
Trying To Gain Folds by Peter Spiro
A Memorial: Son Bret by William Edgar Stafford
October, 1987 by Frank Pettus Steele
Walking Along, He Was Nearly Always Happy by Frank Pettus Steele
Bob Summers' Body by Gerald Stern
Magritte Dancing by Gerald Stern
Bathing The Girls by Barry Sternlieb
For Kyla, Age 3 by Barry Sternlieb
The Dance by Frank Stewart
To A Friend Killed In Dragon Valley, Vietnam by Frank Stewart
L. A. Morning by Austin Straus
My Parents Bought Me Comic Books by Barton Sutter
Rochester by Barton Sutter
The Burden by Christopher Sweet
The Mortal Wife by Nathaniel Tarn
The Aging Professor Considers His Rectitude by Henry Splawn Taylor
At The Swings by Henry Splawn Taylor
Night And Fog by David Trinidad
Male Springtime Ritual by Quincy Troupe
In The Talent Search You Sang Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Lloyd Van Brunt
Boy Watering Fuchsias by John Vernon
Passages by Mark Vinz
Your Father Over Your Righ Shoulder by G. C. Waldrep
The Cinematics Of Loss by Ronald W. Wallace
Condoms by Ronald W. Wallace
Off The Record by Ronald W. Wallace
Morning: Sacramento Valley by Robert J. Ward
Lipstick by Michael Waters
The Mystery Of The Caves by Michael Waters
Making Things Right by Charles Harper Webb
Prayer For The Man Who Mugged My Father, 73 by Charles Harper Webb
Burning Shit At An Khe by Bruce Weigl
Boy At The Window by Richard Wilbur
The Last Deaths by Charles Kenneth Williams
The Shade by Charles Kenneth Williams
Because The Snow Which Falls by Rob Wilson
I Last Saw My Mother A Week After Her Suicide, In A Dream by Gary Young
Loch Lomond by Gary Young
Waling Home From Work by Gary Young
The Great House by Paul Zimmer
Zimmer Imagines Heaven by Paul Zimmer
Living With Others by Al Zolynas
Sailing by Al Zolynas
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820314307
• ISBN-13: 978-0820314303
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,921,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Federico Moramarco is Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University where he taught American Literature and Creative Writing for many years. . He is the author of seven books, including The Poetry of Men's Lives, Men of Our Time, Italian Pride: 101 Reasons to Be Proud You're Italian, and Deliciously Italian. He co-authored the latter two books with his son, Stephen. His poetry and literary criticism has been published in many magazines and journals including American Poetry Review, The Literary Review, The Western Humanities Review, The Nation, and many others and his selected poems are gathered in "The City of Eden"

Federico has appeared on many San Diego stages, most recently in what he regards as his most difficult role--that of George W. Bush's defense attorney in Sledgehammer Theater's production of The Trial of George W. Bush. He is the Artistic Director of Laterthanever Productions and produced the Patte Award winning Hannah and Martin at the Lyceum Theater in 2006. He also produced and directed the west coast premiere of A.R. Gurney's Mrs. Farnsworth at an earlier incarnation of the Ark Theater in 2004, and adapted and directed three of Raymond Carver's short stories (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love) for the stage in January, 2009. He lives in San Diego.

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This review is from: Men of Our Time: An Anthology of Male Poetry in Contemporary America (Paperback)

The book was thoroughly familiar to me so my review only reflects that information. I had wanted a copy, which attests to my thoughts re the content itself, I knew and had read much of it before my purchase. I just wanted my own copy to use at my discretion. The book was as advertised, in good condition and well worth the cost.