About this title: Joyce's Motto has had much fame but few apostles. Among them, there has been Jack Gilbert and his orthodoxy, a strictness that has required of this poet, now in the seventh decade of his severe life, the penalty of his having had almost no fame at all. In an era that puts before the artist so many sleek and official temptations, keeping unflinchingly to a code of "silence, exile, and cunning" could not have been managed without a show of strictness well beyond the reach of the theater of the coy. The "far, stubborn, disastrous" course of Jack Gilbert's resolute journey - not one that would ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred Knopf, New York
Date Published: 1994
Description: Fine in Near Fine jacket. First edition of the poet's third major collection. A fine copy in near fine price intact dustwrapper with the typical rubbing to covers. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred Knopf, New York
Date Published: 1994
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. Signed by Author Fine first edition in fine priced dustwrapper. Only the author's third major published collection of poems. This copy SIGNED by Gilbert on the title page. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780679747673ISBN:0679747672
Description: Acceptable. -Acceptable: A readable copy. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (the dust cover may be missing). Pages can include considerable notes--in pen or highlighter--but the notes cannot obscure the text. About Austin eBooks Austin eBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service! We add inventory to our store daily, and guarantee order processing and shipment within 2 business days. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: ALFRED A KNOPF
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780679747673ISBN:0679747672
Description: New. Joyce's Motto has had much fame but few apostles. Among them, there has been Jack Gilbert and his orthodoxy, a strictness that has required of this poet, now in the seventh decade of his severe life, the penalty of his having had almost no fame at all. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: ALFRED A KNOPF
Date Published: 1996
ISBN-13:9780679747673ISBN:0679747672
Description: New. A third collection of poems by a writer who has been honored by the Lannan Foundation encompasses more than three decades of work and considers such themes as confronting the inner self and savage compassion. Reprint. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780679425762ISBN:0679425764
Description: Octavo. 90pp. Black cloth over black paper covered boards with titles stamped in silver on spine and front cover. Near Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket. Image or additional images available upon request. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780679425762ISBN:0679425764
Description: Acceptable. Unless specifically noted to the contrary, item may contain library markings; 100% of this purchase will support literacy programs through a nonprofit organization! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 1994
ISBN-13:9780679425762ISBN:0679425764
Description: Good in G jacket. Dj and boards have light rubbing and edge wear. Pages are unmarked, rough cut and lightly tanned. Thank you for browsing. A REAL Used Bookstore since 1991. No-hassle return policy if not completely satisfied. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: New York, Alfred A Knopf First edition, 1994 90 pages
Description: Very good condition hard cover in a good dust jacket with gift inscription to fi rst blank page, endpaper price on flap present. read more
"Jack Gilbert is the quintessential Jack of poetry, a man's man but God! I love him. A tender, insightful, powerful writer he conforms to no standards; neither wild nor docile, Gilbert beats to his own heart and it speaks volumes. He is possibly this century's most severely overlooked poet. While other less than stellar poets dominate the skies, Gilbert is the comet streaking across the great fires. His strength lies in his narrative poems and the romantic interlude between words are spare but provocative and profound in their ability to convey certain emotions: Loss, love and spirituality all intertwined.
Sample Poems:
Going Wrong
The fish are dreadful. They are brought up the mountain in the dawn most days, beautiful and alien and cold from night under the sea, the grand rooms fading from the flat eyes. Soft machinery of the dark, the man thinks, washing them. "What can you know of my machinery!" demands the Lord. Sure, the man says quietly and cuts into them, laying back the dozen struts, getting to the muck of something terrible. The Lord insists: "You are the one who chooses to live this way. I build cities where things are human. I make Tuscany and you go to live with rock and silence." The man washes away the blood and arranges the fish on a big plate. Starts the onions in the hot olive oil and puts in peppers. "You have lived all year without women." He takes out everything and puts in the fish. "No one knows where you are. People forget you. You are vain and stubborn." The man slices tomatoes and lemons. Takes out the fish and scrambles eggs. I am not stubborn, he thinks, laying all of it on the table in the courtyard full of early sun, shadows of swallows flying on the food. Not stubborn, just greedy.
Michiko Nogami (1946-1982)
Is she more apparent because she is not anymore forever? Is her whiteness more white because she was the color of pale honey? A smokestack making the sky more visible. A dead woman filling the whole world. Michiko said, "The roses you gave me kept me awake with the sound of their petals falling.""
"The Great Fires is a great book and one that I think should be read in full as the erotic, grief-stricken poems and the abstract, philosophical poems complement and strengthen one another."
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