Steel Umbrellas [Paperback]

David Sutherland (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0966229940 | ISBN-13: 978-0966229943 | Publication Date: January 1, 2000 | Edition: 1st

Poetry. African American Studies. David Sutherland has received a Rhysling Award, a Small Press Writer's Award, and was a recent nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry. In his introduction to this volume, Paul Kloppenborg calls STEEL UMBRELLAS a brilliant collectoin of striking poems written with language at full stretch... redefining language within its emotional and conceptual brackets and breaking out beyond the plain inferences of words into broader perceptions symbolic of human feeling. Clearly, Sutherland means to take on and redefine the tradition. In one poem, he encants Ezra Pound: Ezra I ring no glow, cast no light off your high cantos,/ Neither take stock of your fundamental passions with impetus....// Venus abides beneath burnt dock lights,/ Li Po hides in the heat of gridlock and jealous gods of you/ Act ply the timber of your craft -- as all too soon/ The wood is carved (from Pound). David Sutherland's verse comes at you like a twelve foot tidal wave. His words engulf you, plunge you into a deep state of hal

Editorial Reviews

Review

Abscissa Of Flesh
Backus-naur Numerology
Bad Fiction
The Binding Of An Ascetic
The Bivouac Of Time
The Black Flower Of Brzezinka
Bon Bon Vivant, The Fire Of Which
Bury A Sister
A Cairn's Eclipse
Candlebox
Cantus Firmus
Ceramic Fish
Certain Chaldeans
Child Prophet
Cinchimera
Cleansing Of The Augean Stables
The Colored Earth
Danse Du Ventre
Darling
Dasein
Deep Adjustments
Demiurge
Deus Ex Machina
The Distant Kabah
Escharotic
First Blush
The Fitful Silence
Gaussian Space
Giselle In Two Acts
Half Of Eden
Half Of The Moving Worm
Heart Of The Fugue
Her Beads Of Mercy
Hommage A Broglie
Horse Latitudes
Kissing Eurasia Goodbye
Laughter Of The Moon
Les Dieu De Sauvages
Lolita
March Hare
Mirror, Cignal, Minerva
A Natural Complex
Nde
Notion Of Consistency
Nude Model
Old Long Since
Orpheus: A Monologue
Partial Birth
Pound
Purse Of Fortunatus
Pyrotechnique
Reading Palms
Ripcord
A Sacred Face
Sans Facon
Second Coming
Serengeti Guide
Serving Logos
Steel Umbrellas
Stone Of Contention
The Subject Of Tokens
Sutra's Surrey
Tabula Rasa
There There
This Eternal Reflection
This Mohorovicic Continuity
This Much Love
Tinman
To Breathe Together
Two Worlds, Twin Gods
Unfinished Michael
A Unified Theory
Waiting For Quiescence
Window Dressing
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Archer Books; 1st edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966229940
• ISBN-13: 978-0966229943
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,952,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steel Umbrellas, August 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Steel Umbrellas (Paperback)

"David Hunter Sutherland's first book of verse is not for the beginner, the poet-taster, someone looking for a quick emotional fix. If you are a fan of Bukowski or performance poetry, this volume is guaranteed to stretch your mind."

--C. E. Chaffin, The Melic Review

"Here all language is memorial. Like the black sun at the center of Nerval's lute, this book radiates an eclipsed light, a music lit by the humanizing presence of what it cannot name"

--Bruce Bond American Literary Review.


"David Sutherland's work is gripping at you with forceps. . .the words quickly become a delicacy, part of a perfect mathematical equation all our own."

--Guy Shahar The Cortland Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! I was truly impressed with the tenacity of Steel Umbr., April 5, 2002

By 

Michael Bernst (Newburgh, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steel Umbrellas (Paperback)

Mr. Sutherland definitely seems to occasionally strecth language to its fullest, but I was very impressed with the deeper intet of his words and meanings.

He seems to travel in poetic directions that are rare and difficult to maintain, but maintain it he does. I would highly recommend this book to readers looking for a new way at looking at poetry, I just this book wasn't so darned expensive!

All said, he has inspired my writing and what more could another writer or artist want...

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Under no circumstances should this man be imitated, June 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Steel Umbrellas (Paperback)

I was unable to award this book with zero stars. I've got to be honest: at no point was I wowed or impressed with his "poems." Now, I do not know him personally, nor do I know anyone who does, but he seems to be a man in love with a thesaurus, and not someone interested in doing anything remotely poetic. And 40 bucks for this book is patently ridiculous.

If you absolutely insist on purchasing it, try to find it used.

Better yet, here's my advice for someone who simply must read Mr. Sutherland: this man has absolutely inundated the internet with his poetry. Every e-zine that has accepted submissions in the past five or six years is likely to have published him. If you type his name into a search engine, you will receive hundreds of relevant hits and you will be able to peruse work for hours that rivals the "quality" found in this volume. It's essentially the same experience.

I think the potential buyer should be wary of him and all other poets who publish exclusively on the internet(which to me is a highly dubious decision).

To his credit, he has improved upon the work that he was initially shelling out to e-zines, but that improvement doesn't justify a.) paying for this book, or b.) reading a book-length manuscript of his. Take my advice: browse him on the net.