Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Schuyler's ability to write self-consciously without injecting any hint of pompousness or self-satisfaction makes this book succeed. At the heart of many of his poems is a powerful sense of self which simultaneously observes and writes, thereby initiating a process which charges the relationship between the poet and the world with an unusual intensity. The best results of this technique are his observations on the texture of the dynamic world: 'The light lies layered in the leaves.' (So it is that he can write 'I don't want to be open, / merely to say, to see and say, things/ as they are.') The book ends with its long title poem, an autobiographical letter which examines the tragic content of Schuyler's experience as a source for his poetic material." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
The flowers, trees, birds, clouds, and effects of light that Schuyler describes with such lan, even if only glimpsed from the window of his apartment, could easily be transposed to the poetry written in Japan or Persia many centuries ago. Even more, his culture and learning, worn so lightly as almost to pass unnoticed, link his verse to other and larger traditions, as in this reflection on Baudelaire - clearly intended as an artistic credo of sorts ... - Open Letters Monthly