About this title: Galway Kinnell is one of America's most important poets. "Strong is Your Hold" is his first new collection since his "Bloodaxe Selected Poems" (2001), which updated his 1982 "Selected Poems", winner of Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In the citation for the 2003 National Book Award, the judges called Kinnell 'America's preeminent visionary' whose work 'greets each new age with rapture and abundance and sets him at the table with his mentors: Rilke, Whitman, Frost.' The title of his eleventh collection comes from Walt Whitman's 'Last Invocation': 'Strong is your hold, O mortal ...
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Description: Very Good. With CD! Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Pap/Com Re
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2008-04-09
ISBN-13:9780547053660ISBN:0547053665
Description: Very good. Very minimal damage to the cover (no holes or tears, only minimal scuff marks), in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, minimal to no highlighting/under. read more
Edition: Pap/Com Re
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2008-04-09
ISBN-13:9780547053660ISBN:0547053665
Description: Good. Minimal damage to the cover, dust jacket not necessarily included minimal wear to binding, majority of pages undamaged, minimal to no highlighting/underlining of text, no missing p. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Date Published: 2006-11-08
ISBN-13:9780618224975ISBN:0618224971
Description: Acceptable. Some damage to the cover but integrity still intact, binding slightly damaged but integrity still intact, possible writing in margins, possible underlining and highlighting of text. read more
Edition: Pap/Com Re
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2008-04-09
ISBN-13:9780547053660ISBN:0547053665
Description: Acceptable. Some damage to the cover but integrity still intact, binding slightly damaged but integrity still intact, possible writing in margins, possible underlining and highlighting of text. read more
Edition: Pap/Com Re
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2008-04-09
ISBN-13:9780547053660ISBN:0547053665
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Description: Fine. 0547053665 NEVER USED! . There are no highlights, No pen marks, No missing pages. The binding is sturdy. There is slight shelf wear. Upgraded shipping on orders over $49.99. Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780547053660ISBN:0547053665
Description: Fine. Includes audio CD! LIKE NEW-NEVER READ! Book is an overstock and may show minor wear or have marker line (remainder mark) on edge. read more
"Galway Kinnell, Strong Is Your Hold (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)
I have to admit that up until now I've never run across a Galway Kinnell poem I've liked. I rather expected to pick this up, skim through it, write a generic bad review, and move on. But it seems Kinnell has (with the exception of one more-of-the-same poem) mellowed out a great deal as he's gotten older and turned his thoughts to interpersonal, rather than global, politics:
"Now beings what could be called carpenters' arm wrestling, and also, in this case, transrealmic combat between father and son. We clasp right hands (the flared part of the hammer handle, his hand) and press right elbows tot he hemlock (the curved hammer head, his steel elbow) and pull. Or rather, I pull, he holds fast, lacking the writ to drag me down where he lies. ("Pulling a Nail")
Not the kind of thing that seems tailor-made for plastering on a placard and taking down to Washington when marching in a demonstration. And thank heaven for that. When Kinnell focuses his attention on the little things, globally, that mean so much to us on a personal level, he shines. A very pleasant surprise. *** ½"
"Oh man, I picked this up on a road trip through the desert and I need to send it to zip next... some stumble, some fall, and some rip right into you."
"The epigraph of this book unifies these poems that are very much an elegy to life: "Tenderly--be not impatient. Strong is your hold, O mortal flesh. Strong is your hold, O love.""
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