White Apples and the Taste of Stone collects 226 poems from across sixty years of Donald Hall's celebrated career, including new poems that recently appeared in the New Yorker. One of the most acclaimed poets of his generation, Hall has earned numerous accolades and honors, including the Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Ruth Lilly Prize. Much anticipated, White Apples and the Taste of Stone is Hall's first volume of selected works in fifteen years and the first to include poems from his seminal bestseller, <>i>Without.

A specially recorded CD of Donald Hall reading his favorite poems is included in the book. His distinctive voice and inimitable humor will provide a perfect audio companion for poetry fans, bookseller promotions, and classroom use.

"Hall's 60 years of much-honored work have made him an elder statesman among American poets and a much-honored exponent of the clear, plain style: this career retrospective (the first since 1990) finds room for all his strengths. Given to formal short work in the '50s, to lengthy verse essays and verse memoirs later on, Hall shows consistent topics and moods: adult life among New Hampshire's farms and mountains, childhood in the Connecticut suburbs, equanimity and nostalgia, satire and self-satire, middle age and old age, regret and reserve. Most original in his long poems from the '80s and '90s, Hall achieved popular success in recent years, in Without (1998) and The Painted Bed (2002), collecting elegies and laments for his late wife, the poet Jane Kenyon, whose life he chronicled in the prose memoir The Best Day the Worst Day (2005). In a month overcrowded with poetry releases, Hall's long-eminent reputation, and the persistent interest in Kenyon, should combine to help this book stand out. (Apr.) " Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Since 1995, Donald Hall has been so closely associated with the untimely passing of his wife, the poet Jane Kenyon, that his long life's work in poetry, arcing over six decades, may be said to have become partially eclipsed by the shadow of her death. His tributes to her in 'Without' (1998) and 'The Painted Bed' (2002) created for Hall a reputation as a primarily elegiac poet. But Hall, as his loyal... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) readers know, is that and more.

The publication of 226 selected poems in 'White Apples and the Taste of Stone' comes, then, as a welcome and needed reminder of the expansiveness and weight of this poet's output. It is also an opportunity to enjoy the delightful variety of his work and the sheer charm of his voice. This hefty book, accompanied by a CD of Hall reading some of his work, is a physical and literary manifestation of his importance, not only as an authority on grief but as a major figure in the canon of contemporary American poetry.

Hall has long been placed in the Frostian tradition of the plainspoken rural poet. His reliance on simple, concrete diction and the no-nonsense sequence of the declarative sentence gives his poems steadiness and imbues them with a tone of sincere authority. It is a kind of simplicity that succeeds in engaging the reader in the first few lines. 'In October of the year,' one poem begins, 'he counts potatoes dug from the brown field.' Another opens: 'Looking through boxes/ in the attic of my mother's house in Hamden,/ I find a model airplane.' Many poems are further stabilized by Hall's love of storytelling, a narrative exuberance that produces anecdotal poems as well as longer, more complex weavings.

Hall himself may be as sophisticated as any American poet (he studied at Harvard, Oxford and Stanford and taught at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor), but his persona is agrarian. His decision to detach himself from academic life, with its slow but steady intravenous drip of a salary, and retire to a family farmhouse in New Hampshire gives him the barnyard credibility to write about the lives of farmers and their animals alike. Pig, hen, horse, sheep and cow — all are subjects of sympathetic meditations on the animals whose lives are taken to sustain ours. 'Eating the Pig' should be required reading for all literate carnivores.

In Hall's poetry, as in reality, the dead outnumber the living. The mood of loss that attends the passing of generations saturates this collection. In 'Traffic,' the poet returns to Earth after having 'wandered a lifetime among galaxies' to find 'the people gone, ruin taking their place. ... Freddie Bauer is dead. ... Agnes McSparren is dead. ... Harry Bailey is dead. ... Karl Kapp is dead,/ who loaded his van at dawn,/ conveyor belt supplying butter, cottage cheese, heavy cream.' In hindsight, it almost seems that Hall's long-standing elegiac preoccupations served as a kind of preparation for the loss of Jane Kenyon, whose protracted illness and death are assiduously and tenderly chronicled in poem after poem.

Death has long been poetry's favorite lens, but this collection also demonstrates Hall's versatility in form and subject and his ability to advance happily in a number of poetic and tonal gears. Witness the comic apostrophes of 'O Cheese' ('O village of cheeses, I make you this poem of cheeses'); the noble formality of 'Names of Horses'; the grim celebration of 'Praise for Death'; the whimsicality of 'On Reaching the Age of Two Hundred' ('It was the usual thing:/ dried grapefruit for breakfast'); or the imaginative bravado of 'The Impossible Marriage,' which enacts the fiasco of the wedding of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.

Hall must also be credited with the distinction of being America's best baseball poet. In this collection, each of the nine innings gets its own poem — composed of nine nine-line stanzas — and for those who want more balls and strikes, the poetic game stretches into four extra innings as the poet continues to stitch his sports metaphor into the fabric of his life. 'Baseball is not my work. It is my/ walk in the park, my pint of bitter' is an interesting declaration coming from a poet well-known for locating happiness in work.

One quibble for the more scholarly reader is that the poems are not listed by date or grouped by their books of origin; rather, though chronological, they are creatively but unhelpfully presented in sections bearing their own sometimes puzzling titles.

Still, 'White Apples and the Taste of Stone' offers the most generous array of this poet's work to date, plus a bonus of almost 20 new poems. If you are interested enough in contemporary poetry to have read this review to the end, then the collected poems of Donald Hall should have a place on your night table and, later, on a shelf within easy reach.

Billy Collins' latest collection of poetry is 'The Trouble With Poetry and Other Poems.' He is a former U.S. Poet Laureate." Reviewed by Billy Collins, Washington Post Book World (Copyright 2006 Washington Post Book World Service/Washington Post Writers Group)
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One of the most acclaimed poets of his generation presents his first volume of selected works in 15 years and the first to include poems from his seminal bestseller, "Without." Includes a specially recorded CD of Hall reading his favorite poems from the book.

White Apples and the Taste of Stone is the definitive lifetime work of an American master — with a bound-in audio CD of selections read by the author.< BR> < BR> One of the most significant poets of his generation, Donald Hall has garnered numerous accolades and honors, including the Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. White Apples and the Taste of Stone collects more than two hundred poems from across sixty years of Hall's celebrated career, with new poems recently published in The New Yorker, the American Poetry Review, and the New York Times. Greatly anticipated, this is Hall's first selected volume in fifteen years, and also the first to include poems from his seminal bestseller, Without.< BR> < BR> The bound-in audio CD was specially recorded by Hall for this publication — more than an hour of favorite poems from throughout the book. Hall's distinctive, sonorous voice and inimitable humor provide a perfect companion for fans of his work and for classroom use.

'Donald Hall is the fourteenth poet laureate of the United States and the authorof more than two dozen books of poems and prose, including White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 19462006. His work has garnered many honors, among them the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in poetry for The One Day; the Lenore Marshall Award for The Happy Man; the Robert Frost Silver Medal from the Poetry Society of America for Old and New Poems; and the prestigious Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in recognition of his lifetime accomplishments. His poetry collection Without, which was written for Jane Kenyon during and after her illness, received the L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Hall continues to inhabit the New Hampshire farmhouse where he and Jane Kenyon lived together.'

'Contents

1. Early Poems

Old Home Day · 3

Love Is Like Sounds · 3

Wedding Party · 3

Exile · 4

Exile (1968) · 7

Elegy for Wesley Wells · 8

My Son My Executioner · 10

The Sleeping Giant · 11

Je Suis une Table · 11

Dancers · 12

By the Exeter River · 13

T.R. · 14

The Hole · 14

Religious Articles · 15

The Foundations of American Industry · 16

Cops and Robbers · 17

Sestina · 18

Waiting on the Corners · 19

"Marat's Death" · 20

"The Kiss" · 21

"Between the Clock and the Bed" · 22

Christ Church Meadows, Oxford · 22

Christmas Eve in Whitneyville · 23

2. The Musk Ox

The Long River · 29

The Snow · 29

The Farm · 31

The Moon · 32

The Child · 33

The Poem · 34

Wells · 34

An Airstrip in England, 1960 · 35

New Hampshire · 35

Self-Portrait as a Bear · 36

Orange Knee Socks · 36

Sleeping · 37

"King and Queen" · 38

"Reclining Figure" · 38

Digging · 39

The Pilot of 1918 · 40

Letter to an English Poet · 40

Stump · 42

In the Kitchen of the Old House · 45

The Days · 46

Swan · 47

The Man in the Dead Machine · 49

3. I Am the Fox

The Alligator Bride · 53

Sew · 54

The Coal Fire · 55

The Blue Wing · 55

Woolworth's · 56

The Repeated Shapes · 57

Crewcuts · 58

Tall Women · 59

The Table · 60

Mount Kearsarge · 61

The Young Watch Us · 62

Gold · 62

Waters · 63

Nose · 64

Stones · 64

The Dump · 65

The High Pasture · 65

The Green Shelf · 66

Adultery at Forty · 67

To a Waterfowl · 67

Fête · 68

Eleanor's Letters · 69

The Raisin · 70

The Town of Hill · 71

White Apples · 72

4. Root Cellar

Maple Syrup · 75

The Toy Bone · 77

O Cheese · 78

Kicking the Leaves · 79

Eating the Pig · 82

Wolf Knife · 86

On Reaching the Age of Two Hundred · 89

The Flies · 90

Ox Cart Man · 94

Stone Walls · 95

Old Roses · 99

Traffic · 100

5. Lady Ghost

The Black-Faced Sheep · 105

Names of Horses · 107

Great Day in the Cows' House · 109

The Henyard Round · 112

New Animals · 114

Scenic View · 115

Old Timers' Day · 115

The Baseball Players · 116

Granite and Grass · 117

A Sister on the Tracks · 118

A Sister by the Pond · 120

The Day I Was Older · 124

For an Exchange of Rings · 125

The Impossible Marriage · 126

Mr. Wakeville on Interstate 90 · 127

My Friend Felix · 128

Merle Bascom's .22 · 129

Cider 5¢ a Glass · 131

Oliver at Thirteen · 136

Edward's Anecdote · 137

6. The One Day

Shrubs Burnt Away · 143

Four Classic Texts · 156

To Build a House · 169

7. The Height and House of Desire

Tubes · 181

Moon Clock · 183

Carol · 183

Persistence of 1937 · 184

Six Naps in One Day · 184

The Coffee Cup · 185

This Poem · 186

Praise for Death · 189

Speeches · 196

The Night of the Day · 200

Another Elegy · 208

8. Baseball

The First Inning · 217

The Second Inning · 219

The Third Inning · 222

The Fourth Inning · 224

The Fifth Inning · 227

The Sixth Inning · 230

The Seventh Inning · 232

The Eighth Inning · 235

The Ninth Inning · 237

9. The Museum of Clear Ideas

Decius — Whose Guileful · 243

We've Come to Expect · 244

Let Engine Cowling · 246

Winter's Asperity Mollifi es · 247

Who's This Fellow · 249

I'm Not Up to It · 249

Let Many Bad Poets · 250

In the Name Of · 252

Mount Kearsarge Shines · 252

Camilla, Never Ask · 253

The Times Are Propitious · 254

Drusilla Informs · 256

Ship of State, Hightide · 257

When the Young Husband · 258

Old Woman Whom I · 260

When the Fine Days · 261

When I Was Young · 262

Flaccus, Drive Up · 263

Let Us Meditate the Virtue · 263

We Explore Grief's · 264

I Suppose You've Noticed · 265

Sabina — Who Explored · 266

Go Write a Poem · 267

Nunc Est Bibendum · 268

I, Too, Dislike · 269

10. Extra Innings

The Tenth Inning · 273

The Eleventh Inning · 276

The Twelfth Inning · 280

The Thirteenth Inning · 284

11. The Old Life

Spring Glen Grammar School · 295

The Hard Man · 297

Venetian Nights · 298

Blue · 299

My Aunt Liz · 299

Screenplay · 300

The Profession · 301

Edit · 302

The Girlfriend · 303

The Giant Broom · 303

Mr. Eliot · 304

Le Jazz · 305

Just Married · 306

Dread · 307

The Fragments · 307

Fame · 308

Forty Years · 309

What Counts · 310

Moon Shot · 311

7½ · 312

Elbows · 312

The Wedding Couple · 313

Rain · 314

Beans and Franks · 314

Revisions · 315

Routine · 316

12. ALL

Her Long Illness · 319

Barber · 331

The Porcelain Couple · 332

The Ship Pounding · 333

Folding Chair · 334

Her Intent · 335

Without · 335

After Life · 337

Retriever · 341

The Painted Bed · 342

13. Letters Without Addresses

Letter with No Address · 345

Midsummer Letter · 348

Letter in Autumn · 352

Letter at Christmas · 355

Letter in the New Year · 359

Midwinter Letter · 363

Letter after a Year · 366

14. Throwing Away

Weeds and Peonies · 373

After Homer · 374

Her Garden · 374

Summer Kitchen · 375

Wool Squares · 375

Pond Afternoons · 376

Hours Hours · 377

The Wish · 377

Another Christmas · 378

Sweater · 379

Distressed Haiku · 380

Throwing the Things Away · 381

The Perfect Life · 383

Deathwork · 384

Ardor · 385

Kill the Day · 386

Razor · 391

Conversation's Afterplay · 392

Charity and Dominion · 393

Sun · 394

Villanelle · 394

Love Poem · 395

Affirmation · 395

15. Recent Poems

Secrets · 399

The Angels · 400

The Master · 401

Surveyor and Surface · 401

North South · 402

The Mysteries · 404

Olives · 405

After Horace · 406

Tea · 407

Safe Sex · 407

Tennis Ball · 408

1943 · 409

Usage · 409

White Clapboard · 410

Witness's House · 410

Gospel · 412

We Bring Democracy to the Fish · 413

Fishing for Cats, 1944 · 413

The Hunkering · 414

Note · 416

Index of Titles and First Lines · 417\n

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