Customer Reviews

The Untested Hand

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Rich in language and music, Robbins' poems are beautifully crafted and moving. He knows how to measure a poem out, line by line, and gives the reader something fresh in nearly every single phrase. There's a seriousness, and an intellect, behind these poems that, to me, is a relief from the cult of the ironic that dominates so much of contemporary poetry. If you haven't already, I'd definately check him out.

If you're a poet, and you're looking to be influened, he's good for that, too. I love looking at, for instance, the way he uses syntax, and the way he varies it to sort of measure the emotional rise and fall of a poem as it moves forward. It's something I've tried to mirror in my own poems. Whenever I read one of his books, they end up all wrinkled and bent out of shape because I've gone through them so many times, noticing new bits of language every time that I do. And this is his best book yet.