Trillium (American Poets Continuum) [Paperback]

Richard Foerster (Author)

Book Description

Series: American Poets Continuum | Publication Date: April 1, 1998

Trillium shows how what we might call marginalia is what, in fact, enriches our lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Whether he is describing the ruins of an abbey or a Brueghel painting, Foerster reveals an incisive knowledge of the world he inhabits, capturing his experiences in bold imagery and natural rhythm. As readers, we relive those experiences, moved to contemplate our own lives as we hear "the slow dissolve of a summer/ dusk" for the first time. Sometimes in reading these poems we even find that we have "stepped across the threshold, never to return." Foerster is best in his quiet moments, and his poems have a centered quality that call us back to life. This book should be in every poetry collection.?Tim Gavin, Episcopal Acad., Merion, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

An Absurdity
Ant World: The Leaf-cutters
At The Cove
Autumn Nightfall
Barberry
The Book Cover
Broth
Brueghel's Harvesters
Butterfly Farm
Cantus
The Clearing
Constable's Cloud Studies
Emily Dickinson In Boston, 1864-65
Even In The Touch
Evening Game
The Failure Of Similes
Fiddleheads
From Hawthornden Castle
Garden After Frost
Geological Survey
Holyrood Abbey
Icebound
In The Moment
Invitation To A New Year
Isolation Ward
Judas Trees
Little Homages
Marginalia
Masks
Nettle
The News
Northern Lights
Odonata
On Lexington Avenue
Out Of Grimm: 1. Crone
Out Of Grimm: 2. Gnome
Out Of Grimm: 3. Frau Trude
Plenitude
Poe In The Bronx
Remembering The Garden
The Rock Doves
A Rogue Wave
Snorkeling
Spring Peepers
A Tetradrachm Of Alexander The Great
The Traffic Between
Trilliums
Tulips
Vacant Lot
Valentines
The White Orchids
Wood Ducks At Yaddo
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

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Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd.; 1st edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880238616
• ISBN-13: 978-1880238615
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,332,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Transparent Energies and Audible Imagery in Trillium, October 15, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trillium (American Poets Continuum) (Paperback)

Trillium's book jacket boasts Foerster's patience, and ability to "see into objects and capture their deeper, transparent energies." I agree with this statement whole-heartedly, and chose the poem "Northern Lights" to exemplify this statement. Foerster uses the words "soft, jagged" together in an ironic pairing which sets the tone for the rest of the poem. The speaker is suggesting that everyday probable things are different at the moment he is speaking of. Foerster evokes an image of trees at nightfall which is striking; just about everyone has seen trees at dusk, but he captures them in a way that only a poet could, by using mental imagery and verbal music. "The russet glow behind the trees blackened, and branches coalescedinto curves of nervework."[Foerster 44] In the next line, the speaker talks about how the mosquitoes sang; again, a strange twist to the everyday. Most people think of mosquitoes as a nuisance, and the sound as they buzz near ears as annoying. Foerster changes it to a harmonious audible image. He describes the stars that "sparked", a word that varies from the normal "sparkled" that most would use when describing stars at night. Also, he places the word pizzicati alongside it, once again creating a simultaneous image with sound; in this case an orchestral sound. The next thing the speaker talks about is the Northern Lights; the only image in the poem that is not accompanied with sound. He questions, "why was I aghast at the silence, at those greens and blues that settled so gently upon us?"[Foerster 44] It seems deliberate that Foerster would leave the vision of the aurora to stand on its own amist the sounds of the night, and title the poem accordingly. Although not everyone may have seen the Northern Lights, it is described in such a way that they can be awed along with the speaker at the image created in their minds. I noticed Foerster's attention to detail in other poems as well. "The Clearing" is a fairly easy to understand poem that evokes images of a flock of birds rising from a tree, swirling in a non-pattern calling their echo "orchestral." "The News" uses word sounds to create the poem. I was so spellbound by the beautiful sound and diction, that I didn't hear the actual poem the first time I read it, and had to go back to find out the meaning behind the words. "Autumn Nightfall" begins with the speaker watching his dog relieve himself. Ironically , he begins thinking of lust, and launches into great detail about what nature lusts for, using sound to describe leaves as playing the violin. The poem ends with a draw back to the dog image with the line, "like a run for an old spayed bitch," which is apparently what he assumes his dog lusts for. I found the poem very interesting and amusing.I truly love reading poetry, and learned a great deal from meeting Richard Foerster. My greatest problem with writing (and reading) poetry is the level of depth to strive for. By reading Foerster's Trillium, I noticed several levels; from easier poems such as " The Clearing" to more difficult poems like "Trilliums", which I read several times to understand. From this, I drew the realization that it is still alright to write "easier" poems that everyone can enjoy along with the more difficult ones that please critics and professors. The detail that is involved is the real poetry; it exists in everything, and is up to us as poets to realize it.