Ode to the Cold War: Poems New and Selected [Hardcover]

Dick Allen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0964115190 | ISBN-13: 978-0964115194 | Publication Date: April 1, 1997 | Edition: 1st

One of America's foremost poets of the transition generation illuminates the final half of the 20th century.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Finding a new poet to admire is like Christmas. Dick Allen is a tremendous talent among whose honors is a National Books Critics Circle Final Nomination. No wonder! Reading his poems is seeing fresh, surprising images and events to which I keep saying, "Yes, that's it! " This collection includes both new poems and selections from previous collections. The thoughtfulness and gentility of the poems, the generosity of Allen's gift for turning the idea over and over to see it from all sides, enables our '90s version of transcendence: We escape from the grind of this world into Allen's inspired vision. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal

Allen (Overnight in the Guest House of the Mystic, 1984) is an ordinary poet, but few poets are so good at being ordinary. His subjects are reflective and local (sometimes a bit parochial), his lines methodically iambic and not entirely like speech. The result is a style often distinguished from that of poets who are considered "difficult." Allen writes odes in the Horatian sense, unwilling to take risks, with conclusions that are not enigmatic; his highest purpose would be to tell us a little something about why it is good to be alive. At his best, Allen, like Horace, exposes our doubts and our folly with irony: "How peacefully, how endlessly, it stops," concludes a tribute to the eccentric project of a basement inventor in "The Perpetual Motion Machine." In the improbable "The Perfect Mind," which may be quoted here in entirety, "Each stone in the garden/ Carefully set/ After days of thought/ So that anywhere/ A leaf might fall/ Will be correct." Recommended.?Steven R. Ellis, Pennsylvania State Univ. Libs., Univ. Park
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Sarabande Books; 1st edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964115190
• ISBN-13: 978-0964115194
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,175,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunning Collection, May 28, 2002

By 

Daniel J. Klotz (Lancaster, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ode to the Cold War: Poems New and Selected (Paperback)

Allen's poetry is careful, accessible, and beautiful. His poetry has regularly graced The Best American Poetry series as well as many literary magazines. If you only buy one poetry book this year, this should be it. If you like the work of Billy Collins, Philip Levine, or Jim Daniels, buy this book; Allen's poetry is significantly different (as it should be), but in the same realm as their work.