Natal Command (Phoenix Poets) [Hardcover]

Peter Sacks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 22, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0226733424 | ISBN-13: 978-0226733425 | Edition: 1

Peter Sacks draws upon his life as an expatriate as well as upon his early years in South Africa, including his time spent in the military, to create a remarkably powerful book of poetry. At turns meditative and narrative, Sacks is unafraid to lay bare in vivid imagery his sense of both personal and historical losses, and his commitment to the works of mourning and of cultural repair. Even the love poems emerge from this book with the impress of both bittersweet aspiration and regret.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this stunning third collection, South African emigre Sacks (Promised Lands, LJ 8/90) confronts the ghosts of two continents, finding them both viscous and vengeful. In the brilliant title sequence, we see "submission sliding into savagery": the memory of a Catholic school teacher fondling boys behind the desk or the child looking through his father's graphic medical books contrasts with military consciousness and views of the oppressed. Caught sleeping while on guard duty, the speaker is awakened: "as the bayonet found the nerve, pain jolting/ to my hands and feet. His boot beside the blade/ he pumped me hard against the ground." Because the vitality of Sacks's voice is built upon contrasts, shorter poems seem slight. They cover much the same ground, though the focus shifts toward love and grieving. Whether writing in long lines or the minimalist style of poets such as Cid Corman, Sacks displays that rare combination of skill and subject matter. This book is important for all collections and will, one hopes, prompt librarians to examine his two previous volumes.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

Across The Field
Blue Star
Century
The Course
Drakensberg
Eclipse
For Iris Hayter (on Her 80th Birthday)
The Gate
Judas Peak
Kein Ander
Kronos
Larkin
May Eve
Natal Command
Night Duty
Night Ferry
Nuttall Gardens
On The Path
Only The Swimmer
The Reins
The Ridge
The Rock
The Swimmer
The Thorn
The Trench
Truce
Words
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 87 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (December 22, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226733424
• ISBN-13: 978-0226733425
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,089,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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