In this Book
- New and Selected Poems: 1956-1996
- Book
- 1996
- Published by: University of Arkansas Press
With an astonishing command of nature imagery, from sparrows to mastodons, Philip Appleman can deftly weave into a single poem an intricate pattern of ideas drawn from evolution, humanism, anthropology, religious skepticism, and everyday experience. Appealing to reason as well as to emotion and imagination, he writes poems of lyrical intensity and remarkable narrative depth. He creates characters—Eve or Darwin or a failed priest—with such wit, compassion, and subtle humor that they live on the page and surprise us with new insights into joy and sorrow, life and death. Set on the beach at Malibu, in the port of Trieste, or in a Manhattan subway, his poems evoke genuine feeling with out sentimentality and transform the personal into the universal.
Drawn from six previous books of poetry written over four decades, and with fourteen new poems, this collection shows the power and complexity of Appleman’s wide-ranging talent.
Table of Contents
- Title Page, Copyright Page
- pp. i-viii
- Kites on a Windy Day
- I . The Outside
- TO THE RIVER
- pp. 3-4
- II. Promises
- III. Torn Kites
- THE KNIGHT’S TALE
- p. 12
- REMEMBERING THE GREAT DEPRESSION
- pp. 14-15
- Summer Love and Surf
- I . Old Glory
- THINGS TO DO WITH RAILROADS
- pp. 16-17
- SUCCESS STORY
- p. 18
- DAY OF THE HAWK
- p. 19
- II. Your Light
- MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
- pp. 25-26
- SUMMER LOVE AND SURF
- pp. 27-28
- III. Somewhere East
- THINKING OF NOUBLI LAROUSSI
- pp. 31-32
- THREE HAIKU, TWO TANKA
- pp. 33-34
- IV. Last Chords
- A WORD TO SOCRATES
- p. 35
- SWEET LIFE
- p. 38
- V. The Measure of All Things
- BUTTERWORT
- pp. 40-41
- TOWN AND GOWN
- p. 43
- Open Doorways
- I. Where Light Wells Up
- MEMO TO THE 21ST CENTURY
- pp. 46-47
- NOBODY DIES IN THE SPRING
- pp. 48-49
- LAND OF COLD SUN
- p. 50
- TEN DEFINITIONS OF LIFETIME
- pp. 51-52
- LANDING PATTERN
- p. 53
- KICKING SEA URCHINS
- pp. 54-55
- OCTOBER SPRING
- p. 59
- NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
- pp. 63-64
- SEEING INTO BEDROOMS
- pp. 65-66
- “YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE”
- pp. 67-68
- II. Backs to the Wall
- WESTHAMPTON CEMETERY
- pp. 71-72
- REVOLUTION
- p. 79
- III. Something is Gone
- PEACE WITH HONOR
- pp. 95-97
- WAITING FOR THE FIRE
- p. 98
- IV. The Telling of the Heart
- ARS POETICA
- pp. 100-101
- THE GIRL WHO HATED THREES
- pp. 102-103
- HEART OF STONE
- pp. 105-106
- BIRTHDAY CARD TO MY MOTHER
- pp. 107-108
- THIS MOMENT
- p. 111
- FIRST SNOW
- p. 112
- IN TWO DEGREES OF COLD
- pp. 116-117
- A KIND OF FRUITFULNESS
- p. 118
- BETTER HALF
- p. 119
- LOVE IN THE RAIN
- p. 120
- Darwin’s Ark
- I. Giants in the Earth
- THE SKELETONS OF DREAMS
- pp. 126-127
- NOSTALGIE DE LA BOUE
- pp. 128-131
- STATE OF NATURE
- pp. 132-137
- II. The Rust of Civilizations
- THE HAND-AX
- pp. 138-141
- IN ANDALUCÍA
- pp. 142-143
- THE FAITH-HEALER SPEAKS
- pp. 145-149
- III. Animals Tame and Animals Feral
- DARWIN’S BESTIARY
- pp. 150-154
- MR. EXTINCTION, MEET MS. SURVIVAL
- pp. 159-160
- IV. In the Caves of Childhood
- HOW MY LIGHT IS SPENT
- p. 161
- “SEA OTTER SURVIVAL ASSURED”
- pp. 162-163
- ON THE BEAGLE
- pp. 164-165
- THE VOYAGE HOME
- pp. 166-172
- Let There Be Light
- I. The Bible Retold for Grownups
- GATHERING AT THE RIVER
- pp. 173-174
- AN EYE FOR AN EYE
- p. 177
- HEAVENLY BODY
- pp. 187-188
- SENSUAL MUSIC
- p. 196
- ANNIVERSARY
- p. 200
- II. Into the Wind
- NIGHT THOUGHTS
- p. 208
- WATCHING HER SLEEP
- p. 211
- III. The Tree of Knowledge
- AND THEN THE PERFECT TRUTH OF HATRED
- pp. 219-220
- COAST TO COAST
- p. 226
- HEADING NORTH
- p. 229
- New Poems
- Days One Through Six, Etc.
- pp. 239-241
- Superstition
- p. 242
- How to Live
- pp. 244-247
- Never-Never Land
- p. 250
- A Priest Forever
- pp. 251-255
- Holding On
- pp. 260-262
- Index of Titles
- pp. 263-264
- About the Author
- p. 265
Additional Information
Copyright
1996