"Poems as music arise from the poet's sixty years as a classical guitarist and his preoccupation with the tonalities of day-to-day life. Each poem in the book contributes to a multi-orchestrated symphony encompassing the delights and travails of family life and the moments of intimate connection with the animals and plants with which the poet comes into contact. At the core of the book are poems delving into the nearly impossible task to communicate the essence of a musical experience using the written word. It is a book of grief and joy sung with lyric acuity, imagistic surprise, and formal variation"--
A collection expressing musical experience and daily life through poetry.
The poems in Steven Rood’s newest collection take on a musical sensibility as they flow from the poet’s sixty years as a classical guitarist who remains preoccupied with the tonalities of daily life. Each poem in music from behind a stone wall comes together to build a multi-layered symphony that reveals the delights and travails of family life and moments of intimate connection with animals and plants. At the core of the book are poems considering the overwhelming task of trying to communicate the essence of musical experience via the written word. This is a book of grief and joy sung with lyric acuity, vivid images, and formal variation.
Arvustused
"Music From Behind a Stone Wall is a deep, expansive dive into a very personal journey. It has a slow burn that accumulates power. The poems are striking for their directness, clarity, and piercing honesty." -- Jeffrey Kingman, author of "Beyond That Hill I Gather"
Steven Rood is a practicing trial lawyer and poet living in Berkeley, CA. He is the author of Naming the Wind, also published by Omnidawn. His poems have been published in Periodicities, Sporklet, Quarterly West, Marin Poetry Center Anthology, Fugue, Lyric, Haydens Ferry Review, Tar River Poetry, New Letters, Marlboro Review, Atlanta Review, Southern Poetry Review, Notre Dame Review, and elsewhere.
