Synopses & Reviews
Part fable, part diatribe, part elegy, part love song, this extraordinary fifth collection by Campbell McGrath makes poetry of the most unlikely of materials -- his native state of Florida. While at times poignantly personal, McGrath also returns for the first time to the characteristically comic and visionary public voice displayed in the renowned "Bob Hope Poem." Moving effortlessly from prehistory to the space age, he catalogs Florida's natural wonders and historical figureheads, from Ponce de Leon to Walt Disney, from William Bartram to Chuck E. Cheese -- "the bewhiskered Mephistopheles of ring toss,/the diabolical vampire of our transcendent ideals." in the brilliant sociohistorical monologue of "The Florida Poem," McGrath employs the Fountain of Youth as a mythic symbol for both the tragic consequences of a society built on greed and cultural erasure and the diverse human potential "which must become the fountain/for any communal future we might dare imagine."
Place-bound and tightly focused, Campbell McGrath's message is nonetheless universal, as his penetrating vision of Florida is also a vision of America -- its history and hopes, failings and fulfillments, and the eternal force that transcends it all.
Synopsis
Campbell McGrath's penetrating vision of Florida is also a vision of America -- its history and hopes, its failings and fulfillments, and the eternal force that transcends it all. Florida Poems is a collection marked by McGrath's innovative spirit, with melodic word-play that delights both in language itself and in the objects it signifies.
About the Author
Campbell McGrath is the author of four full-length collections: Capitalism, American Noise, Spring Comes to Chicago, and Road Atlas. His recent awards include the Kingsley Tufts Prize, the Cohen Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Witter-Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress in association with the Poet Laureate. McGrath teaches creative writing at Florida International University and lives in Miami Beach with his wife and two sons.