Synopses & Reviews
from North of 60” Angels are aliens in spaceships. Angels descend and eagles soar. I am not an eagle. If I were an angel I would descend and give you of the bread of happiness the salt of anger and the message you already know better than I know: the moon and the lakes and the hills are forever. The much-anticipated Watermelon Kindness, David Donnells first new collection in six years, comes from a part of the country thats somewhere between Archie Bunker and Dale Peck a contentious, but genial place. With more range than any other contemporary poet, Donnell ponders questions of art, history, and psychology while reveling in the sensory and all that makes us real. Whether exploring the modus operandi of other writers or paralleling the trajectory of a satellite with everyday occurrences like lost money, badly ended love affairs, or political disappointment, Watermelon Kindness is the Roman padda, a tough individual loaf approximately the size of your hand. Always concerned with whats most nourishing why were as crazy as we are crazy its forty percent crust, because crust is almost always the best of it.
Review
"[Donnell is] a worldly Epicurean by temperament with a hearty appetite for food, love, the arts and bourgeois pleasures. Theres social comment here, too, but more from the perspective of an editorialist than an activist." The Toronto Star
Review
"The best poems here are unquestionably great, and its good to see this, possibly the largest of Donnells poetry collections in some time . . . Donnells poems are conversational koans, sometimes meaning nothing, meandering from meaning to meaning, topic to idea, bouncing off, sometimes." Prairie Fire Review of Books
Synopsis
Detailing a point of view that is both contentious and genialsomewhere between the outlooks of Archie Bunker and Dale Peckthe wide-ranging poems in this honest collection ponder questions concerning art, history, and psychology while reveling in the sensory experiences of everyday life. Whether exploring the modus operandi of other writers or paralleling the trajectory of a satellite with a badly ended love affair, these conversational and intellectual poems present a unique voice with a comprehensive worldview.
About the Author
David Donnell is an award-winning poet whose collections include "The Blue Ontario Hemingway Boat Race," "China Blues," "Dancing in the Dark," "Settlements," and "Sometimes a Great Notion." He lives in Toronto, Ontario.