A Thief of Strings

by Revell, Donald

• ISBN13: 9781882295616
• ISBN10: 1882295617
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: Alice James Books

Summary

"These poems make you want to read them over and over, you want so much to understand their magic, their vastness. We suddenly have a master. God bless his courage, his knowledge, his playfulness, his stubbornness, his loving attention. God pity his grief."-Gerald Stern What is a nation when it ignores history? What is a man when he forgets his life? This acclaimed poet's tenth collection chronicles our seeming, and apocalyptic, liberation from conscience-and even consciousness itself. These masterful poems, written in Donald Revell's increasingly more enraptured and oracular style, delineate the consequences of such disregard in a manner both spiritually generous and urgent. From "Election Year" : . . . You asked for my autobiography. Imagine the greeny clicking sound Of hummingbirds in a dry wood, And there you'd have it. Other birds Pour over the walls now. I'd never suspected: every day, Although the nation is done for, I find new flowers. Poet, translator, and critic Donald Revell is the author of nine previous collections of poetry, most recently Pennyweight Windows: New and Selected Poems. Winner of numerous awards, fellowships, and prizes, he is currently a professor of English at the University of Utah and poetry editor of the Colorado Review.

Author Biography

Donald Revell is a Professor of English at the University of Utah and Poetry Editor of the Colorado Review.

Table of Contents

Landscape: A Delirium	p. 3
Landscape with Warhol and the Coming of Spring 2003	p. 5
Delirium: A Landscape	p. 6
Landscape Near Biloxi, Mississippi	p. 8
The Plow That Broke the Plains	p. 9
Thinking in the World	p. 10
Storks	p. 11
Bartram's Travels	p. 13
Burned Acreage	p. 14
Jules and Jim	p. 15
O Rare	p. 16
A Prism That Is	p. 20
Just in the Morning	p. 23
Good Friday	p. 24
On My Fiftieth Birthday	p. 25
Poplars	p. 26
Icarus	p. 27
Hallowe'en, Blue Diamond, Nevada	p. 28
Election Year	p. 29
San Clemente	p. 30
Moab	p. 31
Carcassonne	p. 32
"There might be beauty"	p. 33
Sibylline	p. 34
After Williams	p. 35
What if Christ Were a Snowflake Falling into the Sea?	p. 36
To the Christians	p. 39
To the Jews	p. 40
To the Muslims	p. 41
To the World	p. 42
The Last Guitar	p. 43
Magi	p. 47
The Birth of Venus	p. 48
The Wisdoms	p. 49
Stoic	p. 50
Solstice	p. 51
Thief of Strings	p. 52
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

From “Election Year”:

. . . You asked for my autobiography.
Imagine the greeny clicking sound
Of hummingbirds in a dry wood,
And there you’d have it. Other birds
Pour over the walls now.
I’d never suspected: every day,
Although the nation is done for,
I find new flowers.