New and Selected Poems of Thomas Lux: 1975-1995 [Paperback]

Thomas Lux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 1999

One of the New York Public Library's 25 "Books to Remember" in 1997 Lux comments on the absurd, the pathetic, and the commonplace in our culture, writing with compassion as well as satire. He is "singular among his peers in his ability to convey with a deceptive lightness the paradoxes of human emotion," says Publishers Weekly, and Robert Hass, in the Washington Post Book World, takes special note of Lux's "bitter wit, the kind of irony that comes with a quick, impatient intelligence."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Writing in the Georgia Review, Peter Stitt described Thomas Lux's writing as a "mingling of humor and sincerity," capable of both "ferocious anger and deep tenderness." These seemingly irreconcilable traits marry in Lux's best poems, which you'll find in this collection. Consider, for instance, "Travelling Exhibit of Torture Instruments." Lux is overcome by a wave of reactions to the instruments: he is awed by their genius, their effectiveness; he is obviously bitter about the depths of human cruelty; he is darkly amused by the absurdity of it all; he is bone-crushingly tired and sad at the seeming futility of life. The ending of the poem might contain any, or all of these reactions: "It seems most times men did this or that, / so terrible to him or her, / it was because God willed it so. / Or, at least, they thought He did." Lux is eclectic and brilliant, with a sharp mind and a good ear. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Lux (e.g., The Blind Swimmer: Selected Early Poems, LJ 12/96) has been writing for over 20 years, and many phases of his 20-year writing career are represented in this intriguing collection. His style is deceptively essayistic and even prosy, and while at times his efforts fall into banality, many poems here are distinctive and outstanding. Lux has a notable gift for discerning the difficult and unchanging questions, and his best work offers the illumination and surprise of first-rate writing. In "Solo Native," he sees the human being as "a metaphor, a meatpacker,/ a tree dropping or gaining its credentials." Notable also are the compassionate tributes to Keats, Alexander Pope, and other past poets, the finest of which is perhaps "Postcard to Baudelaire." At times Lux is also capable of superb turns in strict form, as in "All the Slaves" or "Man Asleep in a Child's Bed." At times, as in "Spiders Wanting," he matches that spider's achievement: "to design/ the web, live on what we catch/ from air, and always returning,/ always, to the spun eluctable cave." For most collections of contemporary poetry.?Graham Christian, Andover-Harvard Theological Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (February 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039592488X
• ISBN-13: 978-0395924884
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #934,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watching a poet grow and mature..., December 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: New and Selected Poems of Thomas Lux: 1975 - 1995 (Hardcover)

Reading this collection one gets a sense of how Lux has changed over the years and how those changes have affected his poetry. His keen sense of focus, his delight in learning something in a poem, the playful titles... all remain, but the polish, the craftmanship gets better and better. Thomas in print, Tom when you meet him and hear him read - you will laugh at his reading, picking up lines you missed yourself... Try starting with his poem "The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently" and see if he does not make you aware of that voice AS YOU READ the very poem about that voice. Son of a milkman, read "The Milkman and his Son" and then one to his unborn daughter (p.113) and then her little girl rhymes in "Criss Cross Apple Sauce"... then pause a moment to consider his own childhood in "Refrigerator,1957"... So, it's all from his own life, you ask - another of those confessional poets of the 90's. Not so, says I - find a complete bio in these pages and you are under the influence... it's from YOUR life, I say - and mine, of course. Chronological? Hardly. Even the poems start with the new and look back. Writing this here on the computer I am losing my thoughts because I am getting caught up in the book sitting beside me... read the book, read a few poems each day, make copies for the uninitiated of the poem he wrote for them. I cannot give it a 10 because Lux would not give it a 10 - where could he go from there?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an unsung master, August 18, 2003

By 

Master of (sitting here) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New and Selected Poems of Thomas Lux: 1975-1995 (Paperback)

Every poet, published and journal-scratching, can learn something from Lux. The funny thing is, I don't think he poses himself to be the epitome of American poetry. This is solid, amazing work. He should be read in the schools. He should be read at the beginning of every hockey game. This book should be owned by you.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rage and Rapture- the Poetry of Thomas Lux, October 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: New and Selected Poems of Thomas Lux: 1975 - 1995 (Hardcover)

Tom Lux is the best-kept secret in American Poetry.

Has reading poetry ever poetry frustrated you? Were you taught poetry is some kind of impressive sounding puzzle only a specialist could understand? Well, you must read "New and Selected Poems 1975-1995", because these poems will confound your experience with boring, academic or overly allusive verse. To "get" these poems, you won't need an overpaid theorist to explain them to you, all you need is your experience as an every-day human being.

It's the poet's job to bring the poems alive, make them clear, and engage the reader, and Lux does all this with verve. The subjects of the poems are wide ranging, (as skimming the above list of titles will reveal) but Lux never shallowly uses a subject for its shock value; all the poems honestly and intently explore. The diction is sharply focused, the metaphor surprising, and the sound harmonious and pleasant to read (yes you will actually enjoy saying the poems), but the key to Thomas Lux's poetry is the voice, the resonant from-your-chest, angry, needling, amused, serious, tender and wry voice.

But here I am, telling you what the poetry is like, not what why its valuable.

You should read this book, aloud and often: its music will please your mouth, the subjects will intrigue you, and the poems as poems, whole utterances, will make you feel very much alive.

RJ McCaffery