Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
New York : Vintage Books, 1986, c1985.
Description
Winner of Poetry Magazine's Levinson Prize, an illuminating collection from the middle of his career, Raymond Carver's poems "function as distilled, heightened versions of his stories, offering us fugitive glimpses of ordinary lives on the edge" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times).
User reviews
LibraryThing member EricKibler
I'm not much of a reader of poetry (I hope to change that), but I really liked this collection. These were poems from the mid-eighties, written during Carver's sobriety.
What you see here is a portrait of a very happy man. One who had conquered his demons and was ready to enjoy all the little
Another one I liked was "The Eagle". During a hike, an eagle dropped a fish right at his feat. Not to create waste from the bird's error, he took the fish home, cooked it and ate it. In doing so, he accepted the blessing of chance. This attitude pervades this collection. Carver is willing to accept happiness not only at the hands of this quirky occurrence, but with all the little prosaic pleasures that life offers.
What you see here is a portrait of a very happy man. One who had conquered his demons and was ready to enjoy all the little
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things. They range from joyous (his fantasy about having a big boat party with all his friends), to serious (poetic "interventions" with his daughter Christine, who was heading down the same alcoholic road that he and his ex-wife had been on.Another one I liked was "The Eagle". During a hike, an eagle dropped a fish right at his feat. Not to create waste from the bird's error, he took the fish home, cooked it and ate it. In doing so, he accepted the blessing of chance. This attitude pervades this collection. Carver is willing to accept happiness not only at the hands of this quirky occurrence, but with all the little prosaic pleasures that life offers.
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