Poems in the Manner Of - Softcover

Lehman, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501137395 ISBN 13: 9781501137396

Publisher: Scribner, 2017

Synopsis

Poems in the Manner Of is an illuminating journey through centuries of writers who continue to influence new work today, including that of respected poet and series editor of The Best American Poetry David Lehman.

“Very few writers can actually shape how you see the world. David Lehman is such a writer,” says Robert Olen Butler. Now the Best American Poetry series editor and New School writing professor channels, translates, and imagines a collection of “poems in the manner of” Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats, Rilke, William Carlos Williams, and more.

Lehman has been writing “poems in the manner of” for years, in homage to the poems and people that have left an impression, experimenting with styles and voices that have lingered in his mind. Finally, he has gathered these pieces, creating a striking book of poems that channels poets from Walt Whitman to Sylvia Plath and also calls upon jazz standards, Freudian questionnaires, and astrological profiles for inspiration.

Intelligent and sparkling, this is a great gift for poetry fans and a useful resource for creative writers. These are poems of wit and humor but also deep emotion and clear intelligence, informed by Lehman’s genuine and knowledgeable love of poetry and literature. From Catullus and Lady Murasaki to Wordsworth, Neruda, Virginia Woolf, W.H. Auden, and Charles Bukowski, Poems in the Manner Of shows how much life there is in poets of the past. And like Edward Hirsch’s How to Read a Poem and Robert Pinsky’s Singing School, this book gives you more than poetry. Whether you’re reading for pure enjoyment or examining how a poet can use references and influences in their own work, Poems in the Manner Of is a treasure trove of literary pleasures and food for thought.

About this title

About the Author:

David Lehman, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, is also the editor of the Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include Poems in the Manner Of, New and Selected Poems, Yeshiva Boys, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Poems in the Manner Of
The unexpurgated Catullus is the most bawdy and profane of poets. He hurls insults with brutal candor and makes the reader feel like doing the same.


Two Poems in the Manner of Catullus

1. To a Critic

You made the mistake of praising my pain,

Flavius. This the connoisseurs of cool,

whose approval you seek and shall never gain,

could not condone. You should have known better.

They made you feel like a fool.

You joined in the laughter but it felt bitter.

And ever since you have panned

all work of my hand

with the result that I, too, despise you,

and I do not wish you well.

Yet I took no pleasure when I heard Junius tell

Calista your wife had cuckolded you

with her yoga teacher the same week

you faced a tax audit and ate a steak

with a side of fried poison, missed your train

and lost your job. I feel your pain,

Flavius. Not even a shmuck

like you deserves such lousy luck.

2. To a Rival

More beautiful than daffodils

in February or the face

that is always turned away

from the earth was Diana

a dance major at the High

School of Performing Arts

whose legs were long when

skirts were short, and what

was she doing with you

Junius, lecherous bastard who

tried to fuck every girl he met:

how could she fall for your shit?

Though I was born with a stutter,

Junius, I will denounce you yet

and win awards for my oratory

in a full session of parliament

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1501137395
• ISBN 13: 9781501137396
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160