Touchwood (Paperback)

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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

Product Description

Touchwood is Dick Davis's first collection since Devices and Desires: New and Selected Poems (1989). 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.

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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: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,792,948 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

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

By A Customer

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 4 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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.