Crossroads : poems
by David R. Slavitt
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In his twelfth book of original verse David R. Slavitt leads us to a crossroads where terror, loneliness, and despair are transfigured by love and art. Much of the collection centers on the poet?s family history. In the title poem, Slavitt imagines the ?dour landscape? of the Polish hamlet his grandparents left in search of a safer haven, at the same time that he reflects ruefully on the hazards of contemporary life in America: but what they abandoned is what I dream of now, asleep, while show more people who don?t even know my name monitor consoles that show what zones in my house have been violated?what doors or windows opened, or motion sensors tripped by the cat or some intruder. On the street, cars are stolen and stripped by desperate men, wild children . . . Who can say? In another poem, he recalls his mother and his discovery only after her death?her murder?that the name she had been given was not Adele but Ida. As a young woman she had chosen to call herself something ?not too cute, but not too plain, not Ida.? And it is Adele he decides on for her grave marker, in deference to her whimsical and brave spirit. Not only family but also the worlds of art, music, and literature animate Slavitt?s verses?from a consideration of the modes of salvation suggested by El Grenco?s and Goy?s paintings of Saint Peter to a reflection upon our common response to a discordantly tuned instrument, from echoes of Paradise Lost to witty and deft variations on Catullus. Throughout this collection David Slavitt?s keen intelligence, wry humor, and deep compassion shine through. Crossroads allows us to observe a poet working at the peak of his powers. show lessTags
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David R. Slavitt was born in White Plains, New York in 1935. He received an AB and an MA from Columbia University. After graduating from college and beginning a Ph.D., he worked as a movie critic for Newsweek from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. During this time, he published his first book of poetry, Suits for the Dead. His first novel, show more Rochelle, or Virtue Rewarded, was published in 1966. He has written about 100 works of fiction, poetry, and poetry and drama in translation including Alice at 80, The Cock Book, Falling from Silence: Poems, The Latin Odes of Jean Dorat, Milton's Latin Poems, and Three Greenlandic Poets. He also writes under the names David Benjamin, Henry Lazarus, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Sutton. As Henry Sutton, he has written less "literary" works that have sold well such as The Exhibitionist and The Sacrifice: A Novel of the Occult. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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