Touchwood [Paperback]

Dick Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

`Touchwood' is Dick Davis's first collection since `Devices and Desires: New and Selected Poems' (1989), which Wendy Cope selected as her book of the year in the `Sunday Times', calling it `the year's most underrated poetry book'. The clarity and elegance of his lyrics, intimate and personal in tone, combined with his precise yet natural language, is undiminished. But there is a more relaxed feel to the book with the presence of epigrams and satirical poems like `A Translator's Nightmare' in which the poet-translator is confronted in the underworld by the poets he translated or failed to translate. The book concludes with a brilliant, funny and moving retelling of the story of Esther and Mordecai.

Dick Davis was born in 1945. He has worked as a teacher in various places around the world including Iran, where he lived for eight years. He was Northern Arts Literary Fellow at Durham and Newcastle from 1985 to 1987, and he now teaches Persian at Ohio State University. `Touchwood' is published simultaneously with his translations of medieval Persian poetry, `Borrowed Ware' (Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation).

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Dick Davis writes poems that are unmistakably part of the great formal tradition of English poetry, yet at the same time add a new note to it' - Robert Nye, The Times

About the Author

Dick Davis was born in 1945. He teaches Persian at Ohio State University; as well as his collections of his own poetry, Davis has published a number of translations from the Persian.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Anvil Press Poetry (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0856462691
• ISBN-13: 978-0856462696
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,070,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Esther is a masterpiece, April 29, 2011

By 

Andrew Morrison (San Antonio, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Touchwood (Paperback)

Usually Davis specializes in the neat epigram, the miniature, and it's interesting that he has a poem about painters of miniatures. He often also seems to be most comfortable writing about life second-hand, through the medium of literature, history or art. This time there are some very personal pieces and a few others that are as fine as anything he's ever done. Esther is an amazing tour de force: it rattles along as narrative, very quick and very witty, but at the same time uses a variety of traditional forms including a villanelle not usually associated with narrative. I'd strongly recommend the book just for this poem.

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful poetry, November 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Touchwood (Paperback)

A fine collection of poems, almost entirely metrical and employing full rhyme - by no stretch of the imagination "chopped up prose" - scarcely could that tired old put-down be applied less appropriately. Certainly epigrammatic - by turns witty and (as in 'A Photograph of Two Brothers') highly affecting. A magnificent collection from one of the most enjoyable of contemporary poets.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars proof that i don't like every book i read, June 14, 2002

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Touchwood (Paperback)

The cover of Dick Davis' collection, Touchwood, is a dull brown with small image of tree rings. Rather boring cover, and for once the cover predicts the book. Touchwood is divided into three sections. The poems in Section one are generally dull. Davis switches between pretentious phrasings to what can only be described as prose written as verse. I found most of the rhymes to be predictable, forced, or just bad. Section two gets a little better. As an epigramist, Davis is pretty good. The short nature of the poem suits his style, and brings out a wit that the first section is completely void of. The bitterness that comes out in Davis writing is well suited for shorter poems, that and if the poem ends in only a few lines it doesn't have time to bore you. But towards the end of this section two the quick, witty epigrams we had been reading disappeared and the final four or five poems revert back to what was seen in the first part. Section three is a long narrative poem, "Esther," which retells the story of Esther and Mordacai. Now, normally I like narratives. But in the longer poem (and this one goes on for 17 pages) Davis loses control of his story, rhyme, and interest. It's a book that had a lot of potential to be great, but fell short because Davis lost touch with what he is good at. Of note, Davis defines the word touchwood: 'decayed wood...used as tinder'. Fitting I think.