Synopses & Reviews
This smart, lyrical collection explores the dangers of a world so complex that no single consciousness may grasp it—however much the attempt must be made. Following historical and imagined figures as they encounter specific moments or objects (such as Thomas Hariot in the Ameri-can Wilderness of the late 16th century), the poems attempt to record the unraveling of the safe and singular into a multiplicity of unknowns. Impelled by metaphor and lilting repetition, North True South Bright seeks a sense of the world, and ultimately, a sense of the Infinite.
Hariot’s Round
I know, to entice, to convince, I must sing
Your ear inside stone, must sing
Gold bitten and true, the corn kernel, one seed,
I must plant one gold seed in your mouth with my lips.
Raleigh says: the Queen known my name. The Crown
Of a woodpecker is ruby, but shy.
Inhabitants adorn themselves with feathers, and feathers
Bright on arrow ends. Bow—before a Queen. Bend closed my book.
The page is deaf that turns back to look at what it found.
"In North True South Bright, Dan Beachy-Quick proves the compass of his eye to be perfectly exact, precisely true. These poems are finely made contemporaries of sunlight. And, like sunlight, their history is Now."—Donald Revell
Synopsis
This lyric debut collection is grounded in history and nature.
Synopsis
Poetry. Grounded in history and nature, this smart, lyrical first collection explores the dangers of a world so complex that no single consciousness may grasp it--however much the attempt must be made. Following historical and imagined figures as they encounter specific moments or objects (such as Thomas Hariot in the American Wilderness of the late 16th century), the poems attempt to record the unraveling of the safe and singular into a multiplicity of unknowns. Impelled by metaphor and lilting repetition, NORTH TRUE SOUTH BRIGHT seeks a sense of the world, and ultimately, a sense of the Infinite.
About the Author
Dan Beachy-Quick is the author of four books of poems: NORTH TRUE SOUTH BRIGHT, SPELL, MULBERRY, and most recently, This Nest, Swift Passerine. Collaborating with the poet Srikanth Reddy, he also worked on the double sonnet sequence in Mobius Crowns. A book of interlinked meditations on Melville's Moby-Dick, A Whaler's Dictionary, was published in the fall of 2008 by Milkweed Editions. He edits poetry for the journal A Public Space. He currently teaches in the MFA Writing Program at Colorado State University, and will be a visiting writer at The Iowa Writer's Workshop for Spring 2010.