Synopses & Reviews
In his eighteenth collection, Charles Simic, the superb poet of the vaguely ominous sound, the disturbing, potentially significant image, moves closer to the dark heart of history and human behavior. "Evil things are being done in our name," he writes in "Those Who Clean After," and, even more directly, in "Memories of the Future" he writes:
There are one or two murderers in any crowd.
They do not suspect their destinies yet.
Wars are started to make it easy for them
To kill that woman pushing a baby carriage.
Simic understands the strange interplay between ordinary life and extremes, between reality and imagination, and he writes with absolute purity about those contradictory but simultaneous states of being or feeling: "Everything about you / My life, is both / Make-believe and real." A profoundly important poet for our time, and a stunning book.
SECRET HISTORY
Of the light in my room:
Its mood swings,
Dark-morning glooms,
Summer ecstasies.
Spider on the wall,
Lamp burning late,
Shoes left by the bed,
I'm your humble scribe.
Dust balls, simple souls
Conferring in the corner.
The pearl earring she lost,
Still to be found.
Silence of falling snow,
Night vanishing without trace,
Only to return.
I'm your humble scribe.
Review
"Simic's concise, silvery, and sardonic poems sketch grim vignettes in a world of absences... Simic, a pivotal voice of our bloody times, draws on dark fairy tales, Shakespeare, and pulp fiction as his poems rise from the page like the smoke of the last cigarettes of the damned."
Review
"Among living, secular poets, Pulitzer Prize winner Simic (The World Doesn't End) has fashioned a career addressing the unfashionable subject of evil. He's peculiarly attuned to its presence, whether it haunts the human psyche, or, as in his 18th collection, it hides in neglected, night-shrouded crannies of the known world... A soulmate of Kafka and an anthropologist of the unknowable, Simic writes poems that read like field notes on 'the unreality of us being here'...the poet's vigorous 'life long rebellion/ against that monster Eternity' hasn't abated."
Synopsis
In his eighteenth collection, Charles Simic, the superb poet of the vaguely ominous sound and the disturbing, potentially significant image, moves closer to the dark heart of history and human behavior.
Simic understands the strange interplay between ordinary life and extremes, between reality and imagination, and he writes with absolute purity about those contradictory but simultaneous states of being or feeling: "Everything about you / My life, is both / Make-believe and real."
A profoundly important poet for our time, and a stunning book.
SECRET HISTORY
Of the light in my room:
Its mood swings,
Dark-morning glooms,
Summer ecstasies.
Spider on the wall,
Lamp burning late,
Shoes left by the bed,
I'm your humble scribe.
Dust balls, simple souls
Conferring in the corner.
The pearl earring she lost,
Still to be found.
Silence of falling snow,
Night vanishing without trace,
Only to return.
I'm your humble scribe.
Synopsis
In his eighteenth collection, Charles Simic, the superb poet of the vaguely ominous sound and the disturbing, potentially significant image, moves closer to the dark heart of history and human behavior.
Simic understands the strange interplay between ordinary life and extremes, between reality and imagination, and he writes with absolute purity about those contradictory but simultaneous states of being or feeling: "Everything about you / My life, is both / Make-believe and real."
A profoundly important poet for our time delivers a stunning book.
Synopsis
"Few poets have been as influential - or as inimitable - as Charles Simic." --New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
That Little Something is the superb eighteenth collection from one of Americas most vital and honored poets. Over the course of his singular career, Charles Simic has won nearly every accolade, including the Pulitzer Prize, and he served as the poet laureate of the United States from 2007 to 2008.His wry humor and darkly illuminating vision are on full display here as he moves close to the dark ironies of history and human experience. Simic understands the strange interplay between the ordinary and the odd, between reality and imagination.
That Little Something is a stunning collection from "not only one of the most prolific poets but also one of the most distinctive, accessible, and enjoyable" (
New York Times Book Review).
About the Author
CHARLES SIMIC was born in Belgrade and emigrated to the United States in 1954. He is the author of many books of poetry and prose. Among other honors, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 and served as the Poet Laureate of the United States in 2007-2008.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
I
Walking 3
That Little Something 4
The Elevator Is Out of Order 5
Night Clerk in a Roach Motel 6
Souvenirs of Hell 7
Dramatic Evenings 8
Department of Complaints 9
To Boredom 10
Deaths Book of Jokes 11
Fiordiligi 12
Devil and Eve 13
The Late Game 14
Waiting for the Sun to Set 15
Murky Memories 16
House of Cards 17
Impersonator of Blank Walls 18
Aunt Dinah Sailed to China 19
Doubles 20
To Laziness 21
The Great Disappearing Act 22
Summer Dawn 23
II
Gourmets of Tragedies 27
Listen 28
Encyclopedia of Horror 29
Sunday 30
Dance of the Macabre Mice 31
Flying Horses 32
In the Heat of the Night 33
Night Watchman 34
The Lights Are on Everywhere 35
Memories of the Future 36
Come Winter 37
Those Who Clean After 38
In the Junk Store 39
Madmen Are Running the World 40
III
Late-Night Chat 43
Clouds 44
In the Afternoon 45
One Wing of the Museum 46
Prophesy 47
Dead Reckoning 48
Metaphysics Anonymous 49
High Windows 50
Ghost Ship 51
Wonders of the Invisible World 52
Secret History 53
Wire Hangers 54
To the Reader 55
The Ice Cubes Are on Fire 56
Labor and Capital 57
The Blur 58
The Bather 59
Crickets 60
IV
Eternities 63
Eternitys Orphans 73