Customer Reviews

Steel Umbrellas

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

 

 

"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

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...

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.