The Cradle Place: Poems Contributor(s): Lux, Thomas (Author) |
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ISBN: 0618619445 ISBN-13: 9780618619443 Publisher: Ecco Press
Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions Published: December 2005 Annotation: "[Lux is] sui generis, his own kind of poet, unlike any of the fashions of his time." - Stanley Kunitz Thomas Lux is humorous, edgy, and ever surprising in The Cradle Place, his tenth collection of verse. These fifty-two poems question language and intention and the sometimes untidy connections between the human and natural worlds. Lux has long been an outspoken advocate for the relevance of poetry in American culture, and his voice is urgent and unrelentingly evocative. As Sven Birkerts has noted, "Lux may be one of the poets on whom the future of the genre depends." "A book full of arresting images . . . The natural world, as it appears here, is at first lovely . . . but turns out dangerously vanquished . . . Not since Plath has hysteria looked this kissable." - San Francisco Chronicle "Lux has a gift for the swiftly turned expression . . . Such immediacy and quirkiness will hold a reader." - Poetry "Readers will be mesmerized." - Poetry Book of the Year, Library Journal THOMAS LUX holds the Bourne Chair in Poetry and is director of the McEver Visiting Writers Program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been awarded three NEA grants and the Kingsley Tufts Award, and is a former Guggenheim Fellow. He lives in Atlanta. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Poetry | American - General - Poetry | Caribbean & Latin American |
Dewey: 811.54 |
Physical Information: 0.24" H x 5.54" W x 8.28" L (0.24 lbs) 80 pages |
Features: Price on Product, Table of Contents |
Review Citations: New York Times 01/15/2006 pg. 28 |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: The Cradle Place is a collection from Thomas Lux, a self-described "recovering surrealist" and winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award. These fifty-two poems bring to full life the "refreshing iconoclasms" Rita Dove so admired in Lux's earlier work. His voice is plainspoken but moody, humorous and edgy, and ever surprising. These are philosophical poems that ask questions about language and intention, about the sometimes untidy connections between the human and natural worlds. In the poem "Terminal Lake," Lux undermines notions of benign nature, finding dark currents beneath the surface: "it's a huge black coin, / it's as if the real lake is drained / and this lake is the drain: gaping, language- / less, suck- and sinkhole." In the ominous "Render, Render," the narrator asks us to consider a concentration of the essences of our lives: all that is physical, spiritual, remembered, and dreamed for, melded together to make the messy self we present to the world. Lux's voice is intelligent without being bookish, urgent and unrelentingly evocative. He has long been a strong advocate for the relevance of poetry in American culture. The Los Angeles Times praises Lux for his "compelling rhythms, his biting irony, and his steady devotion to a craft that often seems thankless." As Sven Birkerts noted, "Lux may be one of the poets on whom the future of the genre depends." |
Contributor Bio(s): Lux, Thomas: - THOMAS LUX holds the Bourne Chair in Poetry and is the director of the McEver Visiting Writers Program at Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been awarded three NEA grants and the Kingsley Tufts Award and is a former Guggenheim Fellow. He lives in Atlanta. |
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