Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
Harper Perennial, (2009)
Description
Mark Doty's Fire to Fire collects the best of Mark Doty's seven books of poetry, along with a generous selection of new work. Doty's subjects--our mortal situation, the evanescent beauty of the world, desire's transformative power, and art's ability to give shape to human lives--echo and develop across twenty years of poems. His signature style encompasses both the plainspoken and the artfully wrought; here one of contemporary American poetry's most lauded, recognizable voices speaks to the crises and possibilities of our times.--Publisher's description.
User reviews
LibraryThing member MatthewHittinger
Some nice new poems. Missing some of my favorites, though, like "Letter to Walt Whitman" and "An Island Sheaf: Key West". Most Selecteds fall short for me--I'd rather the integrity of the original collection.
LibraryThing member dasam
A courageous and emotionally powerful collection, "Fire to Fire" exhibits Mark Doty's poetical range and aesthetic. He speaks with clarity of language and image, is not afraid to allow the natural world to speak for him, and faces death and life after the deaths of so many close to him with honesty
"All smolder and oxblood, these flowerheads, flames of August: fierce bronze, or murky rose, petals concluded in gold— And as if fire called its double down the paired goldfinches come swerving quick on the branching towers, so the blooms sway with the heft of hungers indistinguishable, now, from the blossoms."
"Sometimes we wake not knowing how we came to lie here, or who has crowned us with these temporary, precious stones."
He reveals the survivor's wonder and guilt when he survives when so many friends and a lover die in the great AIDS crisis:
"And why did a god so invested in permanence choose so fragile a medium, the last material he might expect to last?"
Doty is not afraid to come close to the sentimental when talking about Beau and Arden, his dogs, as they age through their briefer lives and die before he was ready.
Every poems is crafted for this world. And while Doty acknowledges the great rift created by the 1970s Postmodern experimentation and loss of faith in language, he believes in the power of words well-chosen to carry us through our individual and collective search for meaning: He knows the surprise that comes when the poem reaches beyond what the poet thought he wanted:
"The poem wants the impossible; the poem wants a name for the kind nothing at the core of time,"
Read this collection. You will be heartbroken at times, but that is our lot. And Doty is a great voice and his gentle but courageous presence is welcome on this journey.
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and impossible hope:"All smolder and oxblood, these flowerheads, flames of August: fierce bronze, or murky rose, petals concluded in gold— And as if fire called its double down the paired goldfinches come swerving quick on the branching towers, so the blooms sway with the heft of hungers indistinguishable, now, from the blossoms."
"Sometimes we wake not knowing how we came to lie here, or who has crowned us with these temporary, precious stones."
He reveals the survivor's wonder and guilt when he survives when so many friends and a lover die in the great AIDS crisis:
"And why did a god so invested in permanence choose so fragile a medium, the last material he might expect to last?"
Doty is not afraid to come close to the sentimental when talking about Beau and Arden, his dogs, as they age through their briefer lives and die before he was ready.
Every poems is crafted for this world. And while Doty acknowledges the great rift created by the 1970s Postmodern experimentation and loss of faith in language, he believes in the power of words well-chosen to carry us through our individual and collective search for meaning: He knows the surprise that comes when the poem reaches beyond what the poet thought he wanted:
"The poem wants the impossible; the poem wants a name for the kind nothing at the core of time,"
Read this collection. You will be heartbroken at times, but that is our lot. And Doty is a great voice and his gentle but courageous presence is welcome on this journey.
Show Less
Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Poetry — 2008)
Lambda Literary Award (Nominee — 2009)
Publishing Triangle Awards (Finalist — Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry — 2009)
Language
Original language
English