In this Book
- Dawn to Twilight: New and Selected Poems
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: Louisiana State University Press
Drawing from a career of almost fifty years, Daniel Mark Epstein’s collection of new and selected poems forms a lyrical autobiography of its author as a poet and a man. Dawn to Twilight examines universal themes such as love and aging, happiness and despair, each of which Epstein approaches differently throughout the decades of his writing career. These poems encapsulate the evolution of Epstein’s work, with the passage of time itself forming a crucial theme as the author grows from student to lover to father.
Epstein’s poems evince his deep empathy for people from all walks of life: a knife salesman who harbors no illusions about the use to which his wares have been put; a teacher who watches his student struggle with a thorny philosophical question; a genie whose plans of revenge fade as he emerges from his lamp into the light. Dawn to Twilight celebrates the coming of joy and beauty, accepts their transience, and elegizes their passing.
Table of Contents
- Early Poems and Vignettes, 1967–1980
- Mountain and Tidewater Songs
- pp. 4-7
- Lady in Her Bath
- p. 10
- The Portrait
- p. 11
- The Secret
- p. 12
- The Follies
- p. 14
- The Man Without Legs
- p. 16
- Midtown Home
- pp. 20-21
- In a Free Country
- p. 22
- The Late Visitor
- p. 24
- Night Medallion
- p. 25
- On a Winter Morning
- p. 27
- Summer House
- pp. 32-34
- Fin de Siècle, 1981–2000
- The Rivals
- p. 41
- Homage to Mallarmé
- pp. 42-47
- The American White Pelican
- pp. 49-50
- Cygnus Musicus
- pp. 51-52
- The Carpenter
- pp. 60-61
- Schoolhouses
- pp. 62-64
- Mannequins
- pp. 65-66
- At Poe's Grave, Westminster Church
- pp. 67-68
- The Book of Matches
- p. 72
- The Boy in the Well
- pp. 76-77
- Beauty and the Beast
- p. 78
- Magic for Houdini
- pp. 80-81
- The Genie Makes His Peace
- pp. 82-83
- The Inheritance
- pp. 84-85
- Collection
- p. 86
- Russian Village Suite
- pp. 87-92
- Memorial Day
- p. 93
- Equinox at Newport Farms
- pp. 94-95
- Dead Reckoning
- p. 96
- The Traveler's Calendar
- pp. 97-99
- The Third Millennium, 2000–2008
- Vision at Dawn
- pp. 103-104
- The Pure Gift
- p. 105
- The Final Exam
- p. 106
- Fleur-de-Lys
- p. 107
- Cataract: 9/11
- p. 109
- The Comb-Bearers
- pp. 110-111
- Ronsard's Dream
- p. 113
- In Late November
- p. 116
- The Everlastings
- p. 117
- The Widower's Journey
- p. 118
- The Glass House
- p. 119
- The Clockmaker
- p. 121
- The Good Doctors
- p. 122
- Grandfather's Spectacles
- p. 125
- A Sense of Style
- p. 126
- Tornado, 1911
- p. 127
- The Vanishing Oriole
- p. 129
- The White Quill
- p. 132
- On a Theme of Ronsard
- p. 134
- Heading Home
- p. 135
- New Poems, 2009–2014
- Autumn Song
- p. 139
- Dawn to Twilight
- p. 143
- Sundown, Newport Creek
- pp. 144-145
- The Music Lesson
- p. 149
- Some Angels
- p. 150
- He Wanted to Travel
- p. 151
- The Late Sleeper
- pp. 153-154