Tug

by Patterson, G. E.

• ISBN13: 9781555972851
• ISBN10: 1555972853
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-01
• Publisher: Graywolf Press

Summary

Tug, a thoroughly contemporary first collection, astonishes with its scope and vitality. Ranging in tone from formal to informal, and in mood from longing to celebration, Patterson deftly articulates the shifting ground of human relationships. Different characters, male and female, people these poems. Whether it be the loving son, the unrepentant seducer, or the African American man admired by the world, the voices speak to us openly, with an honesty that is disquieting. Arcing between the impulse to sing and the impulse to narrate or document, Patterson explores the ties of love, family, and history, and shows them to be as tenuous and elusive as memory and desire.Tugis a collection to be proud of and introduces a freshly distinctive new talent.

Author Biography

G.E. Patterson's awards include fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Table of Contents

Green: A Bop	p. 3
Mary	p. 4
Him	p. 5
Dream of My Mother's Wedding	p. 7
Letter from Home	p. 9
Blue Quatrains	p. 10
Reunion	p. 12
Schooling	p. 13
Autobiographia	p. 14
Fever	p. 15
Holiday Sapphics: Philadelphia	p. 17
Sugar	p. 18
Lament	p. 19
Divorce	p. 20
The Responsibility of Love	p. 21
I Used to Go to Church	p. 22
Poem without a Title	p. 24
Probable Correspondence	p. 27
Washtenaw County Summer	p. 28
Yard Talk: Hard Love	p. 29
Remembrance	p. 30
She Told Me	p. 32
Cinderella	p. 33
Talking about the Dead: Sojourner Truth	p. 34
Autobiography of a Black Man	p. 37
The Natural World	p. 39
Ingratitude: A Blues Sonnet	p. 40
This Sock Worn Yesterday	p. 41
Elegy (for Joseph Mitchell)	p. 42
Job	p. 43
A Song (for Elizabeth)	p. 47
The Mountain Road Ends Here	p. 48
Providence	p. 49
Perpetual Morning	p. 50
Six A.M. Jazz Tanka	p. 51
Missing	p. 52
A New Place	p. 53
The Afternoon I Almost Left You	p. 55
Improvisation with an Accordion (Braced)	p. 56
The Saint's First Wife Said	p. 57
Words	p. 58
Letter from the Dead	p. 59
Winter Dream	p. 60
Yesterday I Might Have Been Anais Nin	p. 61
And	p. 64
BLS	p. 65
April Lyric/All I Know Is	p. 67
Notes	p. 69
Acknowledgments	p. 71
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.