Synopses & Reviews
When William Matthews died of a heart attack in 1997, the day after his fifty-fifth birthday, America lost one of its most important poets, one whose humor and wit were balanced by deep emotion, whose off-the-cuff inventiveness belied the acuity of his verse.
With Search Party, his son Sebastian and his friend and fellow poet Stanley Plumly have brought together a collection drawing from all of Matthews"s previously published work as well as twenty-three never-before-published poems. Here are meditations on relationships, work, family life, and, of course, jazz: "I love the smoky libidinal murmur / of a jazz crowd... / I like to slouch back / with that I'll-be-here-awhile tilt." Pleasure is abundant in these poems: music, wine, love, and language are, for Matthews, the necessary consolations for life's suffering.
Full of as much wisdom and song as heartbreak and loss, Search Party will bring a wider reading audience to this "poet of experience" and his benedictions of everyday life.
Review
"[T]his volume presents a hefty selection of work from the poet's long career....The collection also includes excellent longer poems that make the philosophical...not only concrete but unforgettable." Library Journal
Review
"Matthews's three decades of wry, conversational verse display the attractions and faults of a period style." Stephen Burt, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"His unpretentious free verse and his all-American topics recall slightly older poets such as Philip Levine....His work stands out, however, for his commitment to jazz, whose giants...Matthews commemorates and imitates in off-kilter lines....[W]ry and likable." Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Drawing from his eleven previous books and from never-before-published poems, Search Party: The Collected Poems of William Matthews is the definitive compilation of this beloved poet's work.William Matthews's poems pay acute attention to the world he lived in, and his language was as unsparing as his eye. Pleasure is abundant in these poems: music, wine, love, and language are, for Matthews, the necessary consolations of life's sufferings. Edited by his son, Sebastian Matthews, and by William Matthews's friend and fellow poet Stanley Plumly (who also introduces the book), Search Party is sure to be a treasured collection by this exemplary "poet of experience."
Synopsis
When William Matthews died, the day after his fifty-fifth birthday, America lost one of its most important poets, one whose humor and wit were balanced by deep emotion, whose off-the-cuff inventiveness belied the acuity of his verse. Drawing from his eleven collections and including twenty-three previously unpublished poems, Search Party is the essential compilation of this beloved poet's work. Edited by his son, Sebastian Matthews, and William Matthews's friend and fellow poet Stanley Plumly (who also introduces the book), Search Party is an excellent introduction to the poet and his glistening riffs on twentieth-century topics from basketball to food to jazz.
About the Author
William Matthews won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1995 and the Ruth Lilly Award of the Modern Poetry Association in 1997. Born in Cincinnati in 1942, he was educated at Yale University and the University of North Carolina. At the time of his death in 1997, he was a professor of English and director of the writing program at the City University of New York.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction by Stanley Plumly · xiii
Ruining the New Road
The Search Party · 3 Psychoanalysis · 5 Blues for John Coltrane, Dead at 41 · 6 Coleman Hawkins (d. 1969), RIP · 7 Jealousy · 8 Moving · 10 Lust · 11 Faith of Our Fathers · 12 Why We Are Truly a Nation · 13 On Cape Cod a Child Is Stolen · 14 Driving All Night · 15 Oh Yes · 16 Old Girlfriends · 17 What You Need · 18 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 1959 · 19 Yes! · 20
Sleek for the Long Flight
Directions · 23 Sleeping Alone · 24 Driving Alongside the Housatonic River Alone on a Rainy April Night · 25 Another Beer · 26 Night Driving · 28 The Needles Eye, the Lens · 29 An Egg in the Corner of One Eye · 30 The Cat · 31 Talk · 34 La Tâche 1962 · 35 Snow · 36 Sleep · 38 Letter to Russell Banks · 40
Sticks & Stones
The Portrait · 45 Mud Chokes No Eels · 46 Beer after Tennis, 22 August 1972 · 47 Bring the War Home · 48 The Waste Carpet · 49 Sticks & Stones · 54
Rising and Falling
Spring Snow · 59 Moving Again · 60 Snow Leopards at the Denver Zoo · 62 The News · 63 Strange Knees · 64 Living Among the Dead · 65 Left Hand Canyon · 67 In Memory of the Utah Stars · 69 Bud Powell, Paris, 1959 · 71 Listening to Lester Young · 72 The Icehouse, Pointe au Baril, Ontario · 73 The Mail · 75 Taking the Train Home · 76 Waking at Dusk from a Nap · 79 In Memory of W. H. Auden · 81 Nurse Sharks · 83 Long · 85
Flood
New · 89 Cows Grazing at Sunrise · 90 Housework · 91 Bystanders · 92 Twins · 94 Our Strange and Lovable Weather · 96 Descriptive Passages · 98 Good Company · 100 School Figures · 102 Pissing off the Back of the Boat into the Nivernais Canal · 104 The Penalty for Bigamy Is Two Wives · 106 Bmp Bmp · 107 Nabokovs Death · 109 On the Porch at the Frost Place, Franconia, NH · 111
Uncollected Poems (19671981)
The Cloud · 115 Eternally Undismayed Are the Poolshooters · 120 The Drunken Baker · 122 Leaving the Cleveland Airport · 123 Dancing to Reggae Music · 124 Gossip · 126 Iowa City to Boulder · 127 Lions in the Cincinnati Zoo · 128 A Walk with John Logan, 1973 · 129 Clearwater Beach, Florida, 1950 · 130 Jilted · 132
A Happy Childhood
Good · 135 Sympathetic · 139 Whiplash · 140 Bad · 143 The Psychopathology of Everyday Life · 147 Loyal · 149 A Happy Childhood · 150 Civilization and Its Discontents · 156 Familial · 158 Right · 159 The Theme of the Three Caskets · 163 Masterful · 166 An Elegy for Bob Marley · 167 Wrong · 169
Foreseeable Futures
Fellow Oddballs · 175 April in the Berkshires · 176 Photo of the Author with a Favorite Pig · 177 The Accompanist · 178 Herd of Buffalo Crossing the Missouri on Ice · 180 Caddies Day, the Country Club, a Small Town in Ohio · 181 Dog Life · 183 Recovery Room · 184 Black Box · 186 Vasectomy · 187
Blues If You Want
Nabokovs Blues · 191 39,000 Feet · 194 Mood Indigo · 196 Housecooling · 198 Homers Seeing-Eye Dog · 199 The Blues · 201 Moonlight in Vermont · 203 Smoke Gets in Your Eyes · 205 School Days · 207 Little Blue Nude · 208 Onions · 212 Straight Life · 214
Time & Money
Grief · 221 The Wolf of Gubbio · 222 Mingus at The Showplace · 223 The Bear at the Dump · 224 My Fathers Body · 226 Time · 228 President Reagans Visit to New York, October 1984 · 232 Mingus at The Half Note · 233 Men at My Fathers Funeral · 235 The Rookery at Hawthornden · 236 Note Left for Gerald Stern in an Office I Borrowed, and He Would Next, at a Summer Writers Conference · 238 Cheap Seats, the Cincinnati Gardens, Professional Basketball, 1959 · 240 The Rented House in Maine · 241 Mingus in Diaspora · 243 Tomorrow · 245 Money · 247 The Generations · 251 Cancer Talk · 253 A Night at the Opera · 254
Uncollected Poems (19821997)
Another Real Estate Deal on Oahu · 259 Slow Work · 261 E lucevan le stelle · 262 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Clarinetist · 263 Debt · 264 Condoms Then · 265 Condoms Now · 266 Phone Log · 267 Driving Through the Poconos, Route 80, 1:30 A.M., Snow · 268 The Buddy Bolden Cylinder · 269 The Memo · 270 Grandmother Talking · 271 Grandmother, Dead at 99 Years and 10 Months · 272 Names · 274 I Let a Song Go out of My Heart · 276
After All
Mingus in Shadow · 279 Rescue · 280 Truffle Pigs · 282 Manners · 283 Promiscuous · 285 Sooey Generous · 287 Oxymorons · 290 Dire Cure · 291 Umbrian Nightfall · 295 The Cloister · 296 A Poetry Reading at West Point · 297 People Like Us · 299 Frazzle · 300The Bar at the Andover Inn · 301 Big Tongue · 302 Buckets Got a Hole in It · 305 Misgivings · 306 Care · 307
Index of Titles · 308