poetry poets

Softcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st pbk, 1997, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 472 pages. The prose writings of Charles Olson (1910-1970) have had a far-reaching and continuing impact on post-World War II American poetics. Olson's theories, which made explicit the principles of his own poetics and those of the Black Mountain poets, were instrumental in defining the sense of the postmodern in poetry and form the basis of most postwar free verse. The Collected Prose brings together in one volume the works published for the most part between 1946 and 1969, many of which are now out of print. A valuable companion to editions of Olson's poetry, the book backgrounds the poetics, preoccupations, and fascinations that underpin his great poems. Included are Call Me Ishmael, a classic of American literary criticism; the influential essays "Projective Verse" and "Human Universe"; and essays, book reviews, and Olson's notes on his studies. In these pieces one can trace the development of his new science of man, called "muthologos," a radical mix of myth and phenomenology that Olson offered in opposition to the mechanistic discourse and rationalizing policy he associated with America's recent wars in Europe and Asia. Clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Henry Holt, 8th pr., 1959, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 666 pages, green cloth covers with gilt lettering to front and spine, top edge green. INSCRIBED BY FROST on front fly leaf, "To Mrs T.P. Washburn/ from Robert Frost/with best wishes/ Middlebury Vermont /October 1959". Tight, clean copy.

NY, Harper and Brothers, 1st, 1937, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, stated first edition with code letter "F-M" and "First Edition" printed on copyright page. Paper label on spine, three quarter black cloth with blue paper over boards. Clean copy.

Softcover. London, Harvill Press, 1st pbk, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 160 pages, SIGNED BY DURCAN on the title page. Cries of an Irish Caveman is Paul Durcan's most inspired and surprising collection of poems. Through four distinct sections, he brings his tender lyricism to bear on the themes of love and loss, life and death. . In 2014 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Irish Book Award. Signed by author sticker on cover. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Oxford University Press, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 166 pages. Pindar (c. 518-438 B.C.), one of ancient Greece's most famous lyric poets, is perhaps best known for his victory (epinicean) odes, written to honor the winners at various sets of games, such as the Olympiad. In Crown of Song, Deborah Steiner's study of these odes, she writes "If Pindar is remote from us in genre, his style strikes the reader as vivid and immediate. And in my reading of the epinicean odes, it is the poet's use of metaphor that accounts for the dynamic quality of his verse." Steiner begins her analysis by exploring both ancient and modern theories of metaphor, and then turns to specific imagery employed by the poet--plant life, athletics, minerals and numerous others--as a way of understanding how these metaphoric complexes function in the poet's praise of the victor, his assertion of his own place as perpetuator of the victor's immortal fame, and in his vision of human achievement and glory in the context of mortal life and immortal gods. Written in a lively, readable style, Crown of Song opens up the sometimes difficult verse of this celebrated ancient poet to modern readers. Name on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. Washington DC, Shoemaker Hoard, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 112 pages.

Hardcover. Bloomington IN, Indiana University Press, 1st, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a edgeworn dust jacket with light fading. INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR on the half-title page. Poems that deal with Darwin's voyages, evolution, ecology, natural selection, and animals. Illustrations by Rudy Pozzatti. No markings.

Hardcover. Boston, Woodberry Society, 1st, 1912, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Tan boards with black cloth spine, paper label on spine. One of only 300 printed.

Softcover. Port Townsend WA, Copper Canyon Press, reprint, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 372 pages. Cesare Pavese was one of Italy's great post-war writers. His poetry was revolutionary--both artistically and politically--rejecting the verbal and philosophical constraints of tradition and utilizing direct, colloquial language. His subjects were peasants, hobos, and prostitutes, and this bilingual volume includes all the poetry Pavese ever published, including work originally deleted by Fascist censors. A landmark volume. Clean copy.

Softcover. Providence RI, Burning Deck, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, gray illustrated paper covers, #151 of 350 copies. Clean, very good.

Softcover. Detroit MI, Broadside Press, 7th pr., 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 64 pages. Introduction by Gwendolyn Brooks. Previous owner's signature on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.

Softcover. London, Faber & Faber, reprint, 1972, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 56 pages. The poet's second collection of poems, first appeared in 1969. Clean copy.

Softcover. NY, Archipelago Books, 1st, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in pictorial wrappers, 275 pages. Joao Cabral de Melo Neto is one of Brazil's most acclaimed poets. From his early days, Mr. Cabral has written poems that are marked by a captivating use of simple language. Avoiding ceremony and circumstance, they follow centuries-old paths rather than struggle to break new ground. Clean copy.

Softcover. Carbondale IL, Southern Illinois University Press, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 62 pages. INSCRIBED BY GALVIN on the title page. These poems chronicle the waxing and waning of the seasons from one winter to the next in the area around Egg Island, the dunes near a small seacoast town on the outermost reaches of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Galvin's training as a naturalist and environmental writer is evident as his practiced eye roves the waves, marshes, and forests, finding meaning and beauty in the smallest detail-- bird-watching, rebuilding a woodpile, or the flight of bobwhite quail. Other poems recall the poet's affectionate memories of his deceased wife and the life they shared together, acknowledging grief without veering into the maudlin. Always present beneath the surface is the question of where humans fit into this wild, ever-changing landscape. Mild crease to front cover otherwise a clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Hopewell NJ, Ecco Press, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 99 pages, green boards with beige cloth spine. Bright dust jacket that has a small price clip that still shows $22.95 price.

Softcover. New Directions, 2nd pr., 1988, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, These poems on European themes by the author of Her (his Paris novel) and the enduring A Coney Island of the Mind were mostly written during the last seven years and, in the poet's words, are "transformations and transitions looking westward to America and beyond." Flowing from France to Italy to the Netherlands, on to Germany, back to France, and finally toward America, they follow Ferlinghetti's own recent journeying. The poems progress geographically and chronologically with a cohesive development of ideas and themes. Clean, like new.

Hardcover. NY, The Viking Press, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 113 pages, beige canvas boards with salmon cloth spine, wood-grained dust jacket in mylar cover. A collection of poems by American author R. G. Vliet (1929-1984), his first book. Clean copy.

Softcover. Buffalo NY, Blazevox Books, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 58 pages, illustrated in color. A tribute to New York City in words and pictures by the two poets. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, SIGNED & INSCRIBED BY SLEIGH on the title page. Widely considered one of the finest poets of his generation, Tom Sleigh brings to his new collection his trademark intensity and craftsmanship. In these poems, small things reveal large metaphysical and historical correspondences. In "Newsreel," for instance, the entire Cold War era comes to a drive-in movie theater, as Marilyn Monroe's screen image gives way to a tale of sci-fi Armageddon. In the elegiac "New York American Spell, 2001," Sleigh combines ancient spells with reportage of terrorism. Sleigh's overarching theme is the ever-changing face of love. As in Ovid's Metamorphoses, his poems reveal the workings of eros, for good or ill, in all its public and private guises. Clean copy.

Softcover. Riverdale-on-Hudson NY, The Sheep Meadow Press, 1st, 1987, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 115 pages. INSCRIBED BY BARNSTONE on the title page. Barnstone was a distinguished professor emeritus from Indiana University. He was in China during the Cultural Revolution, which is central to this collection. Clean, bight copy.

Hardcover. Columbia MO, University of Missouri Press, 1st, 1967, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn, chipped dust jacket, 114 pages. Card SIGNED BY GARRETT taped to front fly leaf. Light ink marking especially to rear endpapers.

Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1st, 1964, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket with $3.95 on flap. Stated First Edition, clean copy.

Hardcover. London, Sylvan Press, Ltd. Ed., 1948, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn dust jacket with mild soil. Limited to 1000 copies. 64 pages, In French and English. The author takes on the task of offering readers four of Rimbaud's best-known poems in their original text, facing them with literal transcriptions with notes that make the renderings "documents" rather than poetic translations. In a separate section he offers his own versions, taking into consideration the character of the French language. Clean copy.

Hardcover. London, Victor Gollancz, 1st, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 63 pages. Corrections/alterations to several poems in blue ink and dated 4/23/85. Each dated alteration is accompanied by a capital letter 'M', presumably for Menashe. In addition there is a handwritten poem opposite the title page in blue ink titled "Walking Stick", probably by the author. Menashe's short, intense, spiritual poems canvas existential dilemmas and use implication and wordplay as a way of deepening the linguistic force of his words.