Tipping Point (Signed Association Copy)

MARCHANT, Fred

ISBN 10: 0915380307 / ISBN 13: 9780915380305

Published by Word Works, Washington, D.C., 1994

About this Item

Third printing. Softcover. 80 pages. A collection of poems. A fine copy in wrappers. Signed by Marchant on the title page and additionally signed and inscribed by Marchant on the half title page to poet Linda Pastan and with a laid in handwritten card from Marchant to Pastan as well.

Seller Inventory # 157859

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tipping Point (Signed Association Copy)
• Publisher: Word Works, Washington, D.C.
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0915380307
• ISBN 13: 9780915380305
• Binding: Soft cover
• Weight: 2 pounds
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

Poetry. Introduction by Nick Flynn. With his deft and timeless blend of the lyrical and narrative, Fred Marchant explores the wars inside us and the ones we wage in the spiritual, familial, political."In the spirit of Wilfred Owen, TIPPING POINT is a book seared by personal and historical fact. Many artists are eager to assume the mantle of 'witness,' as if will or ambition could do the work of experience and imagination. In contrast, the gravity, modesty, and moral questioning in Marchant's poems reveal a mind committed to a version of history that is resolutely human scale."—Tom Sleigh"Explicit in its detailing, subtly graded in its responsiveness, TIPPING POINT is also a kind of latter-day metaphysics of morals. Marchant searches out the hidden springs of action and yet never loses sight of the larger contexts in which our deeds and gestures come to matter. An honest, earned book."—Sven Birkerts

Reviews

Marchant's first book considers the American appetite for self-destruction. Its distinction lies in his chiseled control of language. Control is challenged by the poet's preoccupation with violence; violence tests Marchant's mettle and seems to raise the standard of the writing. His book begins with the domestic, describing, for instance, the ``almost punitive scrub'' a father gives to his own hands--a purification also experienced as a punishment. In other poems, the same man abuses his wife in a furor that is observed with chilling precision. Honed lines and stanzas never overdramatize such situations; Marchant is melodiously severe, especially in writing about people who don't know themselves well enough to save themselves. He writes insightfully, too, about war and kindred moral dilemmas, though his strategic tact with short lines and concise stanzas may seem to outdo the accomplishment of the more visually dispersed and voluptuous war poems. Authority is one of Marchant's richest subjects: he seems to recognize its innate ugliness, but neither flees nor glamorizes it. (July) *HOW-TO

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