Saying the Necessary - Hardcover

Harkness, Edward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0965141373 ISBN 13: 9780965141376

Publisher: Pleasure Boat Studio, 2000

Synopsis

Poetry. The poems in this volume focus on life's essentials: childhood, the rhythms of family, love for those who are dearest. These themes stand in opposition, often within the same poem, to the darker edges of growing up, the quirks and burdens of history, and the violence of our times, whose horrors are nearer than we want to believe. Other recurring motifs include the ephemeral nature of time and memory, and the inevitability of loss. Poetry, for Edward Harkness, acts as a counterforce against these natural tendencies, against oblivion.

About this title

From the Author

For me a poem often starts with an observation, a recollection, or simply a string of words whose sounds I like. From there it's a process of give-and-take. I want the poem to create its own path, while I guide it--not too insistently--beyond whatever personal detail or impulse drove me to the page in the first place. The poem--if it works--opens into the larger world, the one beyond my own narrow field of vision, and enters the one we all inhabit. I try to reveal the elemental, the 'dailiness of life,' as Gary Snyder put it. Stylistically I aim for direct statement, clear description and a restrained music. A good poem ripples outward from the point of an inner splash, and theat's the effect I want my poems to have in the ear and heart of the reader.

About the Author

Edward Harkness grew up in Seattle's north end and has, with a few exceptions, including a year's teaching stint in the peoples Republic of China, never gotten very far away from hoome. He holds degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Montana; at the latter he earned an MFA and studied with poets Richard Hugo and Madeline DeFrees. He teaches writing at Shoreline Community College and lives with his family in Shoreline, Washington.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pleasure Boat Studio
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0965141373
• ISBN 13: 9780965141376
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 100