Synopses & Reviews
“Unlike too many poets who tumble into print at the first twitch of feeling, Michael Ryan takes time to listen to himself, and such listening contributes immeasurably to the subtlety of his address to the reader . . . [He] reminds us on every page that poems can be about lives, and about them in ways most urgent and delicate.” —William H. Pritchard,
The Nation“The twin ancient powers of poetry are story and song,” Michael Ryan said in a recent interview. “I like a lot of both.” And both are here in This Morning in glorious abundance: graceful complex narratives and tight formal lyrics, edgy humor, affecting music, and insistent clarity always in the service of the heart. He can be deeply funny and extremely moving, often at the same time. No other living poet possesses Ryans range of tone and technique in rendering the great subjects of art and life: sex, mortality, loss, and love (both conjugal and paternal). Even his most apparently autobiographical writing penetrates to the universal subject within it. Like Dickinson in her poetry, his personal life interests him primarily as an instance of human life. His artistic discipline is thus a spiritual discipline, and the vital spirit infusing these poems rises from the depths of isolation transformed by the joy of loving other people persistently and generously. This Morning is the work of a contemporary American master.
Review
"Hoagland has fun in these poems but always in service to a smart and insightful notion....These poems are meant to shake up an already shaken world. But then, 'this is no/ ordinary snowglobe.'" Library Journal (Starred Review)
Review
"Hoagland’s poems... are so fully alive to the rich, dark depths of their grumpiness that they constantly threaten, against their author’s gimlet-eyed better judgment, to become beautiful." New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
The new poetry collection by Tony Hoagland, the award-winning author of
What Narcissism Means To Me and
Donkey GospelIn Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty, Tony Hoagland is deep inside a republic that no longer offers reliable signage, in which comfort and suffering are intimately entwined, and whose citizens gasp for oxygen without knowing why. With Hoagland's trademark humor and social commentary, these poems are exhilarating for their fierce moral curiosity, their desire to name the truth, and their celebration of the resilience of human nature.
Synopsis
The new poetry collection by the award-winning author of What Narcissism Means to Me. With Hoagland's trademark humor and social commentary, these poems are exhilarating for their fierce moral curiosity and their celebration of the resilience of human nature.
Synopsis
The new poetry collection by Tony Hoagland, the award-winning author of What Narcissim Means To Me and Donkey GospelIn Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty, Tony Hoagland is deep inside a republic that no longer offers reliable signage, in which comfort and suffering are intimately entwined, and whose citizens gasp for oxygen without knowing why. With Hoaglands trademark humor and social commentary, these poems are exhilarating for their fierce moral curiosity, their desire to name the truth, and their celebration of the resilience of human nature.
Synopsis
Love, sex, pain, compassion, mortality—the great subjects of art and life—are treated in fresh and immediate ways by the award-winning Michael Ryan in This Morning. Pulling from the ancient powers of story and song, this masterful poet delivers a collection that is at times dark, funny, and absurd, but poignant and uncompromising the whole way through.
About the Author
Tony Hoagland is the author of three poetry collections, including What Narcissism Means to Me, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Donkey Gospel, winner of the James Laughlin Award. He teaches at the University of Houston.
Table of Contents
Contents
I
Sixtieth-Birthday Dinner 3
A Cartoon of Hurt 4
Airplane Food 6
Dachau 8
I Had a Tapeworm 11
Fucked Up 13
Half Mile Down 15
Insult 17
No Warning No Reason 18
Hard Times 19
My Young Mother 20
Odd Moment 21
In the Mirror 23
II
The Dog 29
Mug 33
Garbage Truck 35
The Daily News 37
Splitsville 41
Melanoma Clinic Infusion Center Waiting Area 42
Open Window Truck Noise 3 A.M. 44
Daredevil 45
Here I Am 46
Sabbatical 47
A Round 48
Funeral 49
Ill Wind 51
III
Against Which 55
Very Hot Day 56
Sustenance 58
Earphones 60
Petting Zoo 61
Campus Vagrant 64
This Morning 66
Contentment 68
Happy Anniversary 69
Spring 70
Miss Joy 71
Condolence 74
Girls Middle School Orchestra 75
Acknowledgments 77