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More copies of this ISBNeBook editionsThe Clerk's Taleby Spencer Reece
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In a recent double fiction issue, The New Yorker devoted the entire back page to a single poem, "The Clerk's Tale," by Spencer Reece. The poet who drew such unusual attention has a surprising background: for many years he has worked for Brooks Brothers, a fact that lends particular nuance to the title of his collection. The Clerk's Tale pays homage not only to Chaucer but to the clerks' brotherhood of service in the mall, where "the light is bright and artificial, / yet not dissimilar to that found in a Gothic cathedral." The fifty poems in The Clerk's Tale are exquisitely restrained, shot through with a longing for permanence, from the quasi-monastic life of two salesmen at Brooks Brothers to the poignant lingering light of a Miami dusk to the weight of geography on an empty Minnesota farm. Gluck describes them as having "an effect I have never quite seen before, half cocktail party, half passion play . . . We do not expect virtuosity as the outward form of soul-making, nor do we associate generosity and humanity with such sophistication of means, such polished intelligence . . . Much life has gone into the making of this art, much patient craft." Synopsis:The New Yorker recently devoted the entire back page to a single poem, "The Clerk"s Tale," by Spencer Reece. This debut author"s first collection had been selected by poet laureate Louise Gluck from among 850 submissions to win the 2003 Bakeless Prize of the Bread Loaf Writers" Conference. The poet who drew such unusual attention has a surprising background: for many years he has worked for Brooks Brothers, a fact that lends particular nuance to the title of his collection.
The Clerk"s Tale pays homage not only to Chaucer but to the
clerks" brotherhood of service in the mall, where "the light is bright
and artificial, / yet not dissimilar to that founding a Gothic cathedral." The fifty poems in The Clerk"s Tale are exquisitely restrained, shot though with a longing for permanence, from the quasi-monastic life of two salesmen at Brooks Brothers to the poignant lingering light of a Miami dusk to the weight of geography on an empty Minnesota farm. About the AuthorSpencer Reece was born in 1963 in Hartford, Connecticut. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker and in many literary journals. Reece is an assistant manager at Brooks Brothers in Palm Beach. He lives in Lantana, Florida. Table of ContentsContents Foreword by Louise Glück Portofino The Clerks Tale Chiaroscuro A Bestiary i. The Snake ii. The Frog iii. The Bat iv. The Cat v. The Elephant Tonight Then Chrysanthemums Autumn Song Midnight Winter Scene Diminuendo Ghazals for Spring Cape Cod Ponies Triptych i. Politics ii. Homosexuality iii. Easter Étude Florida Ghazals Interior Addresses i. To You ii. Divinity Avenue iii. To My Brother iv. Pentimento v. Coda vi. United Hospital vii. Blue viii. To Those Grown Mute ix. Fugue x. To Martha My Nurse xi. Minneapolis xii. Beverly Road xiii. Afton xiv. Two Bright Rooms xv. Boca Raton xvi. Loxahatchee xvii. Summerland Key xviii. Worth Avenue xix. I Have Dreamed of You So Much xx. Vizcaya Interlude Morbidezza What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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