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New Books - 02/07
Rae Armantrout's new book, Next Life ($22.95 Wesleyan), carries on her
tradition of sharp, deadpan poetry. "In my country, / in 'Toy Story,' //
sanity meant keeping / a set distance // between one's role / as a figurine
/ and one's 'self-image.' // This gap / was where the soul / was thought to
live." There's nothing quite like an Armantrout poem; she couples a honed
sense of comedic rim-shot timing with cultural critique and marvelous
lyrical leaps. Her work is fresh and in some way drolly enchanting.
Radiant Lyre: Essays on Lyric Poetry ($15 Graywolf), edited by David
Baker and Ann Townsend, collects essays by the two editors, as well as Linda
Gregerson, Richard Jackson, Eric Pankey, Carl Phillips, and Stanley Plumly.
"It is no accident that the two fundamental modes of lyric poetry are
precisely these, crying and laughing, the intonations of grief and
pleasure," David Baker writes in the introductory essay. What follows then
are essays on the elegy, the love poem, and the ode, and a second section on
topics ranging from the pastoral in lyric poetry to contemporary, fractured
lyrics. The poets whose work is cited range from Andrew Marvell to C.D.
Wright, making this a rich study of the evolving uses of a poetic approach.
At long last, The Collected Poems 1956-1998 by Zbigniew Herbert has
arrived ($34.95 Ecco), gathering the nine books by this renowned Polish
poet, translated and edited by Alissa Valles. Herbert's work rose out of
dark times, and expresses that darkness with startling artistry. As Adam
Zagajewski writes in his introduction, "This poetry is about the pain of the
twentieth century," yet it manifests a remarkable lyricism. Here's a poem
from the volume--
BUTTONS
Only buttons witnesses to the crime
proved unyielding outlasted death
and as sole memorial on the grave
rise up from the depths of the earth
they are a testimony it is for God
to count them and to be merciful
but what resurrection if each body
lies in the earth a clinging particle
a bird flies over a cloud sails past
a leaf descends mallows grow lush
a mist drifts in the Smolensk forest
and up in the heights a deep hush
only buttons proved unyielding
the mighty voice of a muted chorus
only buttons proved unyielding
buttons from coats and uniforms
-- Zbigniew Herbert
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