A Thing That Is - Hardcover

Lax, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879516992 ISBN 13: 9780879516994

Publisher: Abrams Press, 1997

Synopsis

The author's first book of new poetry published in the United States since the 1960s explores the limits of abstract, minimalist, and experimental concrete poetry.

About this title

About the Author

ROBERT LAX (1915-2000) worked as an editor at The New Yorker and contributed to many anthologies and magazines including The New Yorker and The New Republic. In 1962 he moved to Patmos, Greece; since then his poetry and journals have been published throughout the world. His books include Circus of the Sun, 33 Poems, Love Had a Compass and A Thing That Is: New Poems.

Reviews

Following closely the fine retrospective of Lax's work, Love Had a Compass , comes his first U.S. collection of previously unpublished poems since 1962. Most of the poems are in Lax's maturest manner--that is, the poems appear as nearly straight vertical shapes, for each horizontal line is only a few short words at the longest, a single syllable or even one letter at the shortest. If they appeared in rhythmic units, they would often be a few couplets and would often rhyme. But these are poems of the page, meant to be watched as they slowly unfold, so that readers may let Lax's elemental images--sea, sun, water, etc.--conjure more specific counterparts out of their own particular, individual memories. This is highly participatory poetry that resembles painting (especially of such artists as Cezanne) and religion (especially religious contemplation) more than other writing in that it calls us to realize the essentiality and the sacredness of creation. Ray Olson

For 35 years, Lax has been living in self-exile, mostly on the Greek islands. Before leaving, he had already established himself in the forefront of the avant-garde, publishing experimental, abstract poetry that echoed the thunderous works of John Cage, William Burroughs, and the Abstract Expressionist painters while earning him acclaim and respect. This is the first volume of all-new poems he has published in America since the 1960s. Given to short lines arranged in long columns, Lax's poems link the natural and personal in simple, direct, deadpan narration. The simplicity can be misleading, not in its initially unnoticed depth or metaphor but in its very purity, its almost ascetic singleness of purpose: "each day/ the same/ walk up/ the hill/ same turns/ same shad/ ow of the tree/ each sta/ tion of/ the way/ takes on/ its own/ set of/ meanings." Lax has been working at the margins for a long time and has found a crisp and comfortable way of ordering and exploring his contemplations. This collection is not for everyone, but it is a essential for that special audience for truly avante-garde work.?Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abrams Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0879516992
• ISBN 13: 9780879516994
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96