Synopses & Reviews
A. Van Jordan, an acclaimed American poet and the author of three previous volumes, "demonstrates poetry's power to be at once intimate and wide-ranging" (Robert Pinsky, ). In this penetrating new work he takes us with him to the movies, where history reverberates and characters are larger than life. is an entrancing montage of poems, wherein film serves as the setting for contemplative trances, memoir, and pure fantasy. At its center is a sonnet sequence that imagines the struggle of pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux against D. W. Griffith's , which Micheaux saw not only as racist but also as the start of a powerful new art form. "Sharpen the focus in your lens, and you / Sharpen your view of the world; you can see / How people inhabit space in their lives, / How the skin of Negroes and whites both play / With light." Scenes and characters from films such as , , , , and also come to luminous life in this vibrant new collection. is an extended riff on Jordan's life as a moviegoer and a brilliant exploration of film, poetry, race, and the elusiveness of reverie.
Review
" is the announcement of the birth of an entirely new poetics. A. Van Jordan brings the art of film and the art of poetry together in a virtuoso act of passion. This work goes beyond memorable speech into an articulation of the spirit, the hunger, the enchantment and terror of a nation and a time. In unforgettably resonant pieces this poetry creates a whole. This is one of our most important poets doing perhaps his own most important work of a lifetime." Laura Kasischke
Review
"For several books now, A. Van Jordan has been proving himself master of the dramatic monologue. His skill is especially dazzling in as he turns to cinema, that other realm of persona and projection. With an imagination illuminated by empathy, Jordan inhabits the eye of the camera, the eye of the actor, and the 'I' of a viewer tethered to image and history. These terrific poems give shape to lives made of light." Terrance Hayes
Review
"[O]ffers sharp ruminations on films both familiar () and relatively obscure (Satyajit Ray's )." Thom Geier
Review
"Brilliant... Every piece denotes feeling--and this is what moves us forward." Entertainment Weekly
Synopsis
from Last Year at Marienbad A place, though visible, is like a ghost of memories. Even memories one forgets linger in the space in which they occurred. Here within the expanse of vaulted ceilings, doorways leading to more doors, hallways leading to more halls, the faintest recollections absorb over time; no act will wholly evanesce.
"
Synopsis
from "Last Year at Marienbad"
A place, though visible, is like a ghost
of memories. Even memories one forgets
linger in the space in which they occurred.
Here within the expanse of vaulted ceilings,
doorways leading to more doors, hallways
leading to more halls, the faintest recollections
absorb over time; no act will wholly evanesce.
Synopsis
A remarkable montage of poems that explore film, poetry, and the elusiveness of reverie.
Synopsis
In these poems that riff on A. Van Jordan’s life as a moviegoer, film serves as the setting for reverie, memoir, and pure fantasy. At the center is a sonnet sequence that imagines the struggle of pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux against D. W. Griffith’s
The Birth of a Nation, which Micheaux saw not only as racist but also as the start of a powerful new art form.
from “Last Year at Marienbad”
A place, though visible, is like a ghost
of memories. Even memories one forgets
linger in the space in which they occurred.
Here within the expanse of vaulted ceilings,
doorways leading to more doors, hallways
leading to more halls, the faintest recollections
absorb over time; no act will wholly evanesce.
About the Author
A. Van Jordan is the author of Rise, published by Tia Chucha Press, 2001, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and selected for the Book of the Month Club from the Academy of American Poets. His second book, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, published by W.W. Norton & Co, 2004, was awarded an Anisfield-Wolf Award and listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by The London Times (TLS). Jordan was also awarded a Whiting Writers Award in 2005 and a Pushcart Prize in 2006, 30th Edition. Quantum Lyrics was published July 2007 by W.W. Norton & Co. He is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 2007, and a United States Artists Williams Fellowship, 2008. He is a Professor in the Dept. of English at the University of Michigan.