Stubborn: POEMS (National Poetry Series) - Softcover

Flint, Roland

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252061322 ISBN 13: 9780252061325

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1990

Synopsis

Selected by Dave Smith as one of the five volumes published in 1990
          in the National Poetry Series
         
          "I could not leave this book aside nor, among so many worthy others,
          could I choose another. It interested me, crooned to me, and in the
          end I loved it. I hope he writes many more. Read it. You will see why."
          — Dave Smith
         
          "A poet whose own craft is beyond dispute and whose gifted heart
          has something to tell us about our ordinary selves we had almost despaired
          of hearing again in the American tongue." —John D. Bernard,
          Poet Lore
 

About this title

Reviews

Flint's ( Resuming Green ) new collection is cast in the form of an autumnal testament, its ponderings those of middle age, its resolutions shaded with melancholy. Selected by Dave Smith for the National Poetry Series, Stubborn circles back time and again to the stark virtues of resilience and endurance--particularly the poet's recognition that "something stubborn wants him scribbling daily, / even if it is the only thing to write about" ("Late September, Early Morning"). For all his big-hearted sincerity, however, Flint seldom proves entirely equal to the task of quarrying sustained pathos from his tireless soul-searching; his hunt for pithy epiphanies and durable solaces too often leaves him stranded in overdetermined stoicism or remorse. Flint's best poems are not those that hover closest to home (several poems invoking the death of his son are moving for their subject matter rather than for any sustained elegiac grace) but those in which he confronts mortality with his mind as well as his heart, counterpointing earnestness with artfulness.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252061322
• ISBN 13: 9780252061325
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80