Full Description
This new collection from best-selling poet and novelist Stephen Dobyns focuses on the hard, ephemeral truth of mortality, including the section "Sixteen Sonnets for Isabel" about the recent death of his wife; the poem "Laugh," a portrait of the late poet Hayden Carruth; and the poignant parable of a horse in a bar. In true Dobyns fashion, these poems grip and guide readers into a state of empathy, ultimately raising the question of how one lives and endures in the world. Recognitions The awful imbalance that occurs with age when you suddenly see that more friends have died, than remain alive. And at times the memory seems so real that the latest realization of a death can become a second, smaller death. All those talks cut off in mid- sentence. All those plans tossed in the trash. What can you do but sit out on the porch when evening comes? The day's last light reddens the leaves of the copper beach. Stephen Dobyns is the best-selling author of twenty-three novels, fourteen books of poetry, two collections of essays, and one book of short stories. Among his many honors and awards are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Dobyns has worked as a reporter for Detroit News, and has written reviews for such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Times Literary Supplement. He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University. He currently lives in Westerly, Rhode Island.
Contents
CONTENTS
Part One
1—Stories
2—Stars
3—Wisdom
4—Parable: Horse
5—Mrs. Brewster' Second Grade Class Picture
6—Furniture
7—Water-Ski
8—Leaf Blowers
9—Parable: Heaven
10—Good Days
Part Two: Sixteen Sonnets for Isabel
1—Monochrome
2—Song
3—Technology
4—Skyrocket
5—Lizard
6—Swap Shop
7—Alien Skin
8—Pain
9—Niagara Falls
10—The Wide Variety
11—Skin
12—Never
13—Casserole
14—Inexplicably
15—Prague
16—Gardens
Part Three
1—The Miracle of Birth
2— The Inquisitor
3—Fly
4—The Poet's Disregard
5—Parable: Gratitude
6—Sincerity
7—Statistical Norm
8—Turd
9—Parable: Friendship
10—The Dark Uncertainty
11—No Simple Thing
Part Four: Reversals
1—Narrative
2—Determination
3—Jump
4—What Happened?
5—Philosophy
6—Melodrama
7—Exercise
8—Failure
9—Constantine XI
10—Literature
11—Jism
12—Valencia
13—Thanks
Part Five
1—Persephone, Etc.
2—Crazy Times
3—Parable: Fan/Paranoia
4—Winter Wind
5—So It Happens
6—Tinsel
7—Parable: Poetry
8—Scale
9—Recognitions
10—Laugh
