1970
|
|
Untitled Subjects
PS 3515 08415 U5
|
Richard
Howard |
First
edition. Wild, tall early 70s- looking book.The tall format
was a hallmark of early 70s books. The entire thing is written
in poetic monologues of historical figures. The author
is also a translator of historical works. One poem
is an imagined 1951 monologue of John
Ruskin on his wedding journey to Venice.
He is the poetry editor of the prestigiuos Paris
Review. |
1971
|
|
The Carrier of Ladders
PS 3563 R58 A6 1971
|
William
S. Merwin |
I
read the first edition, published by Atheneum in New York,
866 Third Avenue.
They make very good-looking books. This one is really
no great shakes.
Example: "Quince":
The gentle quince blossoms open/ they have no first youth/
they look down on me/ knowing me well/ some place
I had left." Huh? Merwin
was friends with Ezra Pound. |
1972
|
|
Collected Poems
PS 3545 R58 A6 1971
|
James
Wright |
Very
personal verses. Soft
and fuzzy yellow cover. I got the first edition from
Harold Washington. Not so crazy about the book itself.
|
1973
|
|
Up Country
PS 3521 U638 U6
|
Maxine
Kumin |
The
return of the New England
poets. The first, bizarre part of the book follows a hermit
with titles like: "The Hermit Has A Visitor," "The Hermit
Prays," "The Hermit Reviews His Simples," and
"The Hermit Meets A Skunk." Ooo-K. |
1974
|
|
The
Dolphin |
Robert
Lowell |
Master. |
1975
|
|
Turtle Island
PS 3569 N88 T8
|
Gary
Snyder |
Shamanistic, anthropological treatise of a
man living the freak commune life of the early 70s. Very
well-intentioned Earth Day kind of stuff. Utopian
poetry with recipes for cooking roadkill.
Snyder was also a part of the San
Francisco Beat scene in the 1950s. Very innocent and earnest stuff. |
1976
|
|
Setf-Portrait in a Convex
Mirror
PS 3501 S475 S4 |
John
Ashbery |
Academia's
Greatest Living Poet gets his Pulitzer. Poetry for professional
thinkers or people who think too much. I'd
like to see what king of reception Ashbery would get at
the Green
Mill ("Just read the fucking poem, John!"). Sure
he's into Decontructivism
and you need a degree
in philosophy to curl up with this guy but he is who
he is. Thanks the Guggenheim Foundation in his
acknowledgements. Guggenheim
seems to be taking Auden's place as Pulitzer barometer.
|
1977
|
|
Divine Comedies
PS 3525 E6645 D5
|
James
Merrill |
Very cool
book. The brunt of it is a long narrative poem, "The Book
of Ephraim," tells the story of contacting a ghost
through a OUIJA board. I thought
it would be hokey but it works well.
Funny. The poem "Lost in Translation" is for translator
and Pulitzer winner Richard Howard, proving
once again that logrolling works.Son
of Charles Merrill, co-founder of the brokerage firm Merrill
Lynch. They used to advise you to Be Bullish. |
1978
|
|
Collected Poems
PS 352 7 E5Al 7 1977
|
Howard
Nemerov |
The droopy
eyed, puffy-skinned cover photo should be the poster photo
for the Liver
Foundation. University
of Chicago Press. St. Louis Walk of Fame holds both
him and Eliot. Brother of great
photographer Diane Arbus.
|
1979
|
|
Now and Then: Poems, 1976-1978
PS 3545 A 748 N6
|
Robert
Penn Warren |
Amazing. The poem "Heat Lightning"
is a soaking wet hot hot hot love poem of
remembrance from a guy who was in his late 70s. Very touching.
I read the first edition. Also published in this year
is one of my favorite books, Selected Poetry of Amiri
Baraka/ LeRoi Jones. Crushing, vicious, beautiful. |