In this Book
- The Americans
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: University of Pittsburgh Press
- Series: Pitt Poetry Series
summary
David Roderick’s second book, The Americans, pledges its allegiance to dirt. And to laptops. And to swimming pools, the Kennedys, a flower in a lapel, plastic stars hanging from the ceiling of a child’s room, churning locusts, a jar of blood, a gleam of sun on the wing of a plane. His poems swarm with life. They also ask an unanswerable question: What does it mean to be an American? Restless against the borders we build—between countries, between each other—Roderick roams from place to place in order to dig into the messy, political, idealistic and ultimately inexplicable idea of American-ness. His rangy, inquisitive lyrics stitch together a patchwork flag, which he stakes alongside all the noise of our construction, our obsessive building and making, while he imagines the fate of a nation built on desire.
Winner of the 2014 Julie Suk Award for the best poetry book published by an independent press.
Winner of the 2014 Julie Suk Award for the best poetry book published by an independent press.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Dear Suburb
- pp. 3-4
- After de Tocqueville
- pp. 5-6
- Letter to Shara in Amman
- pp. 8-9
- California Clouds
- pp. 11-12
- Dear Suburb
- p. 13
- Love Field
- pp. 16-18
- Ambassador Hotel
- pp. 19-20
- Terra Incognita
- pp. 21-22
- Pale Tornado
- pp. 23-24
- Dear Suburb
- pp. 25-26
- Self-Portrait as David Lynch
- pp. 27-28
- In My Name
- pp. 29-31
- Western Wind
- pp. 34-36
- Akhmatova’s Ashtray
- pp. 38-39
- 44 Standish Avenue
- pp. 40-41
- 35 Miller Drive
- pp. 42-43
- Green Fields
- pp. 44-48
- 13 Pleasant Street
- p. 49
- New Directive
- pp. 50-51
- Landscape with Tyrian Purple
- pp. 52-53
- Dear Suburb
- p. 54
- Thoreau’s Beans
- pp. 55-56
- Passionflower
- pp. 58-62
- Dear Suburb
- pp. 63-64
- The Locusts
- p. 65
- Running Brush
- p. 66
- Dear Suburb
- p. 67
- Eros and Dust
- p. 68
- Running Brush
- p. 69
- Acknowledgments
- pp. 77-78
Additional Information
ISBN
9780822980261
Related ISBN(s)
9780822963127
MARC Record
OCLC
887684113
Pages
88
Launched on MUSE
2014-08-17
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2014