Of This World: New and Selected Poems
Of This World: New and Selected Poems
Author: Joseph Stroud
Desc: “A book by Joseph Stroud is a rare and exciting event.”—The Bloomsbury Review "In just four books since the 1960s the calm California-based writer—whose works also describe his travels in Vietnam Laos India and even the Solomon Islands—has gathered devotees to his pellucid free verse with its unpretentious unbuttoned feel and its Buddhist overtones." —Publishers Weekly "(Stroud's) poems speak from around the globe: Venice London Santo Domingo Guatemala Vietnam Santa Cruz Singapore. Stroud enters the minds of painters such as Goya Brueghel and Giotto Bondone and he pays homage to the poets Blake Milton Smart Lorca Machado and Jeffers....Many of the poems own a clarity that opens to unexpected emotional depths. One would be tempted to call them Zen poems because all have a quiet at the core but they also love the surfaces."—ForeWord "Reading Joseph Stroud's Of This World: New and Selected Poems two words come to mind namely 'breadth' and 'breath.' 'Breadth' because of his unerring command of odes prose poems sestets etc....And 'breath' because of each poem's sure-footed movement....Make no mistake however these are not sleepy meditations that go up in incense smoke but fleshy encounters sensuous reveries poems that are as much throbbing taproots as they are like that imaginary wingless bird that never lands or in other words poems that flock as much as they flow." —Bookslut Joseph Stroud knows the value of taking one’s proper time to write poems and taking great care when presenting a book to the world. Stroud has published four books in forty years and his work has earned a devoted audience including Jane Hirschfield Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison. Of This World includes the best from Stroud’s previous volumes as well as a series of new poems and translations. The Georgia Review observed that “Joseph Stroud moves easily from the concise to the voluptuous.” He does this through various forms—compressed lyrics longer narratives odes expansive prose poems. Informed by the qualities of clarity and compassion and inspired by artists and writers as diverse as Li Po Neruda and Giotto Stroud articulates a reverential attention to the world and a commitment to revelations found beyond the self. Across the ravine from the mill house there’s a grassy patch where gypsies keep a donkey tied to a tree. Sometimes I’ll cross the stream and bring him an apple holding it out like a rare jewel. He’ll contemplate it then take my whole hand into his lips as soft as suede and I can’t tell how he does it but when his head lifts back the apple has disappeared. Joseph Stroud is the recipient of the prestigious Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress. His poems have been featured on National Public Radio Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. He splits his time between Santa Cruz California and a hand-built cabin in the Sierras.