With craggy Celtic metaphysics and perfect linguistic pitch, R. T. Smith evokes the landscape, culture, and history of Ireland and the New World through the eyes and ears of an outsider. Words matter to Smith, and the language of these poems is knotty and precise, blazing into moments of recognition with the elliptical testimony and spare light of everyday objects: . . . adze and hammer, gate latch, cracked Baleek and a Claddagh brooch. It is this muted voice of perfection, speaking from the simple lines of Shaker ...
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With craggy Celtic metaphysics and perfect linguistic pitch, R. T. Smith evokes the landscape, culture, and history of Ireland and the New World through the eyes and ears of an outsider. Words matter to Smith, and the language of these poems is knotty and precise, blazing into moments of recognition with the elliptical testimony and spare light of everyday objects: . . . adze and hammer, gate latch, cracked Baleek and a Claddagh brooch. It is this muted voice of perfection, speaking from the simple lines of Shaker furniture, that chills the speaker of "New Lebanon" as he reflects upon the religious sect's "hard bargain / with God, their promise / to be virtue's monsters." Trespasser arcs with rigorous unity of vision from the secular to the heights of spiritual rapture, until the demarcation between world and spirit finally begins to blur. In a parable of the perfection in disorder, "Before the Breakup" juxtaposes the heartbreak of parting against the discovery of a bee embalmed in a jar of bramble jam. And "Passage to Kilronin," a meditation on the drowning of a boy from one of the local trawlers, eloquently voices the notion of cosmic kinship. The collection ends on an eerily pastoral note with the crepuscular, self-composed epitaph of St. Gristle, a holy madman: I will be love's gallows, all sap and marrow, mad lament of shadows and a mouthful of birds dying to sing. Surely, this book suggests, between world and spirit there is, for those who can see, no demarcation at all. Trespasser is a dazzling, passionate collection, certain to delight and move any reader who has an ear for the music of language played by a virtuoso.
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Add this copy of Trespasser: Poems (Studies in Industry and Society; 9) to cart. $2.44, very good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by LSU Press.
Add this copy of Trespasser: Poems to cart. $3.63, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by LSU Press.
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Add this copy of Trespasser: Poems (Studies in Industry and Society; 9) to cart. $4.00, very good condition, Sold by Midtown Scholar Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Harrisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by LSU Press.
Add this copy of Trespasser: Poems to cart. $9.95, like new condition, Sold by Saucony Book Shop rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Kutztown, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Louisiana State University Press.
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Fine. No Dust Jacket. Inscribed by Author(s) Signed. A Fine copy of this paperback poetry collection. Nicely inscribed and signed by the author at the title page.
Add this copy of Trespasser to cart. $15.00, like new condition, Sold by Jeff Hirsch Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wadsworth, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Louisiana State University Prss.
Add this copy of Trespasser Poems to cart. $16.00, like new condition, Sold by The Avocado Pit rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Staunton, VA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Louisiana State University Press.
Add this copy of Trespasser: Poems to cart. $20.00, like new condition, Sold by Southampton Sag Harbor Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southampton, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Louisiana State University Press.
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Like New. First Edition Thus, First Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Louisiana State University Press, 1996. Octavo. Paperback. Book is like new. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.
Add this copy of Trespasser: Poems (Studies in Industry and Society; 9) to cart. $29.56, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by LSU Press.
