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Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
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Categories: Science fiction Fantasy Mystery Romance Business Classic Sports Young adult Humor Memoirs See all categories... |
I may skip a detailed review on this, simply because poetry reviews are a real ass kicker for me. Like work. But, that said, it deserves one. Wright is one best poets I've read (and I've read A LOT). One reason for this is that he's SO American in his settings and voice. If you like Whitman, you should like this guy. But for me he speaks more directly to the post WW 2 American consciousness. Hell, updating things a bit, he speaks directly to the post financial meltdown consciousness. Wright's America is a dead one. Drunk poets, slag heaps, whores, rivers, cities, and a nature of tooth & claw. Oh, there is beauty, but it's usually tinged with sadness. This particular collection spans Wright's career (though I think there is a more up to date version). The arc of Wright's career is remarkable, since he starts out as a formalist (and a really good one), and evolves into an experimental one. Clearly, here's a poet constantly pushing beyond his comfort zone. I mentioned above how Wright was such American poet, but he's more than that. Some of the best work in this collection are his translations of European poets. In particular, I liked his translations of Jorge Guillen (a new name for me), and Georg Trakl ( a personal favorite). You can't go wrong with Wright.
