Death Song - Softcover

McGrath, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556590369 ISBN 13: 9781556590368

Publisher: Copper Canyon Press, 1991

Synopsis

A collection of the last poems by the American poet which includes such works as Cold Winter Night, A Visit to the House of the Poet, and Always Ahead of Ourselves

About this title

Review

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Advice For Those Facing The Coming Flood
After Tomasito's Departure
Always Ahead Of Ourselves
Among The Reasons For Being
Another Christmas Carol
Another Quandry
Another Revelation
At Lost Lake
At Port Townsend: 1
At Port Townsend: 2
At Port Townsend: 3
At Port Townsend: 4
At Port Townsend: 5
Bad Cess
Birthdays
Both Camps
The Bravest Boat
Butterfly Or Emperor?
The Children Of The Contemporary Cities
Cold Ceremony
Cold Winter Night
The Communist Poet In Hell
The Crippled Artist
Dear Willy
Destiny
Down River
Eating Alone
End Of A Season
Entrophy
Even Song
Evidence
A Fable For Poets
Faithfully Yours
A Fatality
Flying Home
For A Dancer
For Boris Greenfield
For Jimmy Mcgrath
For Joe Mcgrath
For Lyla
Generations
The Ghost
Going To Bed In The Dark
Going With The Flow
Good News From Hell!
The Good Old Days
The Gospel According To The Sea
Graveyard Shift
Guerillas
Half Measures
Ho Ho, The Carrion Crow
How The Revolution Was Betrayed
How To 1
I Noticed Somewhere Before
In The Confusion Of Empires
In The Desert
In The Museum At Fort Ransom North Dakota
Inappropriate Longing
Inside The Papal Ring
Invitation
It's A Hard World
The Language Of The Dead
Last Will And Testament
Late Arrival
Left Town
Legends, Heroes, Myth-figures And Other American Liars
A Little Knowledge
Long Remember
The Longing
Loning
Look On My Works!
Loon
The Man In The Blizzard
Maybe
Memory
A Momentary Loss Of Belief In The Wisdom Of The Common...
More Evidence
More News From The Lbyrinth
More Paycuts And Unemployment
Moving The Immovable
My Poems
Night Meeting
Notes On The Revolution: 1
Notes On The Revolution: 2
Notes On The Revolution: 3
O Ozymandius!
Old Enemies
On The Head Of A Pin
On The Ice Floe
The Owl
Pieces Of String
The Pleasures Of The Great Salt Lake
Poem
Poem For Fred Whitehead
Poem For Kathleen
Poem For Martin Mcgrath Tool & Die Maker
Power
Probable Cause
The Progress Of Philosophy
A Promise
The Protection Of Soft And Simple Things
Reading By Mechanic Light
Recall
Reciprocal Actions
Revionist Poem
Revolutionary Action
Riddle
Route Song And Epitaph
Sanctuary
The Sense Of Being Incomplete
Slaughterhouse Music: 1
Slaughterhouse Music: 2
Slaughterhouse Music: 3
Some Things Are Known
Song Of The Open Road
Style
A Sullen Musik
Suspicion Of Some Kinds Of Solitude: 1
Suspicion Of Some Kinds Of Solitude: 2
Suspicion Of Some Kinds Of Solitude: 3
Suspicion Of Some Kinds Of Solitude: 4
Suspicion Of Some Kinds Of Solitude: 5
Than Never
That Week In The Desert
There Is Also A Fourth Body
Towards The End
Trail Blazers
Transformations
Transformations Of Old Silver Crossing The Continent: 1
Transformations Of Old Silver Crossing The Continent: 2
Transformations Of Old Silver Crossing The Continent: 3
A Tribute
Underground Activities
Useless Passions
Visions...journeys
A Visit To The House Of The Poet - Nicaragua, 1987
Waiting
Warning
We May Live Longer Than We Wish
What Happened To The Other Two Comrades?
Winter Goodnight
Working In Darkness
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

From Publishers Weekly

McGrath ( Selected Poems 1938-1988 ), who died last year, wrote poetry that uncovers the sublime in the common. This collection adds to his store of popular wisdom, but the beauty and power of its language transcends the limitations he found in ordinary life. Descending "through the guts of the great misery machine," his metaphor for capitalist society (he was an avowed communist, for which he was blacklisted as a screenwriter), the poet longs "to pass from this anguish of passings / Into the calm of an indifferent joy." While filled with deep political convictions--"Politics is the continuation of war / by other means"--McGrath invokes a world that politics cannot divide: "It's a lonesome old world as the old song says: waiting for transport. / But time and again a friend brightens a dark door." This is the essence of his communism: community, a life made whole by collective action. Until that time arrives, in McGrath's opinion, "That's what we are: / Seeds in the cold wind. . . / The wind always blowing. . . ." His words, like a Zen master's, remind us that the secret of life is in the living of it.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1556590369
• ISBN 13: 9781556590368
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 117