Who Whispered Near Me - Softcover

Clary, Killarney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0374522405 ISBN 13: 9780374522407

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1990

Synopsis

Poetry. The work in WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME has marked Killarney Clary as one of the most enigmatic and original poets of her generation. This series of sketches illuminates the intimacies and distances of contemporary life through language that is at once plainspoken and radiant. WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME is layered with inquisitive projections that are unbodied, worldly, and powerfully real.

"At first it feels as though an amazingly precise but alien eye were observing us; later as though we and our surroundings are perhaps the aliens and Killarney Clary the one who was here first. Things do get sorted out and we all adjust to one another, once we realize that 'we are sincere and self-conscious, like nervous laughter'; that 'it is such an odd desire—to be this or that'; that 'the misery I hold is good sometimes too'; that the severity of her look is constantly nuanced by tenderness and doubt. Hers is a stunning [. . .] voice in American poetry."—John Ashbery

"WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME is a commonplace book, a lyrical record of moments and memories. I read this book often for its straightforward beauty and astounding subtlety. Killarney Clary is one of our finest poets."—Ed Skoog

About this title

About the Author:

Killarney Clary is the author of Potential Stranger, By Common Salt, By Me, By Any, Can and Can't Be Done and, most recently, WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME (Tavern Books, 2013). She lives in Aptos, California.

Review:

Above The Inland Empire Today The Sky Is Off The Desert
After Work, After Meals For Raul And Her Mother
Another Hot Afternoon Upstairs After School
As You Struggle With The Boat, It Drifts Out And Turns
Because The Ones I Work For Do Not Love Me
Before The Birds Awaken, After The Possum Has Gone Home
Boys On Street Corners In Santa Ana Are Selling Flowers
Breathless. White Lights In The Trees
Camellia, It's That Moist And Sensitive
Clouds Of Birds Rise Above The Upper Bay
Don't Tell Me You Give Up Here Like It's A Puzzle
Early, We Heard New Birds
Easy As An Arm Moving Over Water, A Slight Window
Every Time I Step Into The Bathtub, Theresa, I Think
Green Beetles Tick Against The Lighted Window
Have We Proved Our Wealth Or Kindness
He Dreamt Of Too Large A Ship
I Always Daydream Good Dreams
I Believe In Time As Healer And Destroyer
I Hadn't Been A Superstitious Person
I Lean On Sunday Morning Against
I May Love This Difficulty
I Ride A Carousel Among The Squid
I Set Out A Cardboard Box Of Seed For The Sparrows
I Want A Solution. So, 'god,' I Pray
I Was Thinking Of A Different Hand
I Will Empty The Sunday Afternoon Out Through A Window
I'm Sorry I Brought It Up. I'm Sorry Until I Lose
It's What I'm Afraid Of That Hints At What I Desire
Larger Than Hand-passed Dangers Await Us
Life Is Boundless. Matter Is Without Edge
Lightning. And The Mile Between
My Whispered Song, The Tune Replaced By Breath
Near Four O'clock The Daylight Changes Into A Way
Of All The Signs In The World, I Wonder Which Carries
Sacrificed So That I Could Be Uncertain, The Dead Were
She Was Sick And We Had Gone Ahead Of Her
Sleep Was Streams Of Red And White Lights
Someone Else. And The Empty Time
There Are More Of Us
There Is No Way To Know What I Miss
There Seems Nothing More Sad. I Was In Love With You
Water Dripped From A Gray Wedge; Tapped For The Sawdust
We Met As The Names Of Cities And That Made Us Laugh
What If We Do Need Four Candles To Lift Our Spirits
When My Heart Asked For A Way Free
White Sand, Tall Grass
The Wind Stopped For A Moment At The End Of Autumn
You're Bent In The Reeds And Behind
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0374522405
• ISBN 13: 9780374522407
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 65