Joseph Stanton

Things Seen is a must-have collection for lovers of ekphrastic poetry. The opening section has fourteen poems that invite fresh ways of seeing art by Andrew Wyeth, Paul Gauguin, Salvador Dali, Edward Gorey, and others. Another section contemplates the brooding paintings of Edward Hopper. Interspersed with these are reinvented fairy tales and poems that draw on baseball metaphors. A lush, evocative painting by Winslow Homer illustrates the cover. The author, Joseph Stanton, teaches Art show more History and American Studies at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa. show less

I suppose I shouldn't speak to book design, too much for plain text (as opposed to picture-books, field guides, etc.) but this paperback has tiny font and a bad stink (even though it came from a clean library and is mint condition) and so, even were I more interested in the text, I could not finish it.

But I would not recommend even a digital copy. I skimmed it, and it reads to me like a thesis, or maybe even only like six undergrad's final papers. Much too 'look at me and how literary I show more am.' I'm sure Stanton means well, and maybe if I'd actually read it through I would have gained some insights... but, no. The bits I saw either belabored the obvious, or set up a theory that seemed absurd to me but was stated as fact by the author.

Back to the library it goes. show less