Customer Reviews

Riffs & Reciprocities: Prose Pairs

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While certainly better than the majority of pseudo-philosophical goop that passes itself off as poetry (or even worse--"prose poetry"), Riffs and Reciprocities was a disappointment, especially given the heights Dunn is capable of reaching in his work. We have to admire Dunn for attempting new styles/directions in his work and for not just recycling the most reader-friendly version of himself for his audience (as Billy Collins and Stephen Dobyns have, unfortunately, done with their latest efforts). But these prose pieces never aspire to much more than passing ruminations, and, at times, they come dangerously close to imitating "Deep Thoughts" by Jack Handy. Stick with Landscape at the End of the Century if you want to read Dunn at his finest. His poem "On the Death of a Colleague" is better than anything in his last two books.

This is poetry, prose, philosophy. These paired prose poems offer the reader a place to think and to feel. You get the best of what poetry and prose can do. All of them repay a second read. That rare kind of writer who goes deep but remains accessible. Excellent.

Stephen has been metamorphizing before our eyes. 'What is this? What is this?' we ask, and the answers, in his best moments, are never going to be simple. He is too good to us to allow us what we believe to be simplicity (and we may even be right about it). This book undulates in pairs that entertain with no boorish party manners. I laugh harder at the more serious mutterings, and I always feel the urge to sing. Excellent well, Stephen...excellent well.

These prose pairs are surprisingly musical, counterpointing the rhythms of English prose (see Syntax and Mimesis) and the tighter, more angular rhythms of poetry. The poems are as multifaceted as diamonds and strike sparks as they play off each other and their own titles. They open in and out, in very direction. The voice is fluid, supple, and seductive. It's an illuminating and powerfully moving book.