Synopses & Reviews
Review
"One wonders why Stuart, in his comments on the back, insists on the thematic and tonal unity of the three parts of his book. The first two 'panels' are variations on the song/ballad with many ironic twists on tradition—some successful, some obscure or too cute. Since the third part differs in style and subject, the triptych framework seems like an apology for combining early with recent poems.
Stuart can write poetry for the ear and sensuous imagination as well as for the eye and brain; he has a fine feeling for rhyme, rhythm, and refrain, and the pieces on 'the fool, the slut and the poet' show him at his lyric best. These poems depart from his previous collections to a more pleasing if simpler and less intellectual mode. The vision is still bleak; a world of waste and betrayal where the desire for human decency and grace is constantly thwarted by superiors or erotic impulses. The only response to the speaker's interrogative mood is nasty, brutish, and short.
Stuart's poems tend to be carefully made but can be cryptic or irritatingly complacent when he attempts to force autobiography into social comment. His themes travel through various stages of the search for identity, commenting on the poet's and poetry's place in society." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)