Provincetown and Other Poems - Softcover

Connellan, Leo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880684292 ISBN 13: 9781880684290

Publisher: Curbstone Books, 1995

Synopsis

In Provincetown and Other Poems, Leo Connellan masterfully depicts the New England landscape while capturing the afflicted spirit of those filled “with wonder / and fear that we are being forever left yearning / malcontent.” In his accessible and characteristic style, Connellan gives empathizes with the impoverished and disparaged, as well as criticizes the roles big industries have in producing adverse circumstances for the region. With its focus on the working class, Provincetown offers a grim and unforgettable look at the place where “Death sings to life . . . where / life style has no code.”

About this title

About the Author

Leo Connellan published twelve books of poetry including The Clear Blue Lobster-Water Country, Another Poet in New York, Crossing America, and Death in Lobster Land. Winner of the Shelly Memorial Award, he was a Poet-in-Residence for Connecticut State University. He served as Connecticut's Poet Laureate from 1996 until his death in 2001.

From Library Journal

For nearly five decades, Connellan has plied the poetry of hard knocks, wrapping his anger and despair in the plaints of Maine laborers, the New York City homeless, and others who can see no good end to their lives. In his first collection since New and Collected Poems (LJ 3/1/89), the poet is relentlessly bitter, depicting the sordid details of subway crime and the exploitation of motel workers, meditating on the nature of murder ("If, indeed, eternal paradise is our reward for dying, then/why kill a man into eternal joy") and decrying the evils of technology. His glum aphorisms ("whatever we do is for another's memory") and steely images ("gray waves coming...like/an invasion of plows pushing snow") make for an abrasive poetry that often finds itself caught between cold Frostian lyricism and staccato Beat diatribe. Nevertheless, Connellan's is a unique, if ragged, voice. For large poetry collections.
Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Curbstone Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1880684292
• ISBN 13: 9781880684290
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 77