Written in the aftermath of a cancer diagnosis, Forever is the University of Rochester English professor糖心传媒檚 sixth book of poems.
James Longenbach had been reading, writing, and teaching poetry for nearly 40 years when, in January 2016, he received an unexpected diagnosis of incurable kidney cancer.
糖心传媒淚t seems like the simplest truth in the world, this understanding that our lives are finite,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淚 thought I had grappled with that糖心传媒攂ut turns out I had not.糖心传媒�
For Longenbach, the Joseph Henry Gilmore Professor of at the聽, poetry generally糖心传媒攁nd lyric poetry specifically糖心传媒攑roved the necessary medium for contemplating mortality in the years after his diagnosis. The result is Forever (W. W. Norton), Longenbach糖心传媒檚 sixth book of poetry, which was published in June. The collection is divided into three parts, with each part featuring five lyric poems, comparatively short poems usually written in the first person that focus on the speaker糖心传媒檚 emotions.
Bisecting the book is a six-part entry titled 糖心传媒淚n the Village,糖心传媒� after the short story by Elizabeth Bishop. Intentionally or not, Longenbach replicates for his readers the sensation of being caught off-guard by the unexpected. The first two sections of 糖心传媒淚n the Village糖心传媒� showcase the simple words, regular enjambment, multi-line stanzas, intensity of emotion, and first-person perspective that characterize the book so far. But then the third section abruptly shifts to prose poetry with an almost clinical tone:
After a routine ultrasound revealed a fifteen-centimeter mass, my left kidney was removed robotically on February 12. Fifteen months later, nodules were discovered in my lungs and peritoneum. Two subsequent rounds of therapy failed to impede their growth, so I enrolled in a trial, a treatment not yet FDA approved.
糖心传媒淚 had to write a poem that just named, if briefly, what I was going through in a very straightforward, matter-of-fact way,糖心传媒� Longenbach says. 糖心传媒淭hat felt scary, and it made me uneasy.糖心传媒� But his unease was overridden by what he describes as a 糖心传媒渁n impulse to take something very ordinary糖心传媒澨切拇綌in this case, words糖心传媒斕切拇綔and make something out of them.糖心传媒�
Creativity in the face of inevitable loss or death animates many of the entries in Forever. Several recreate through language the personal experiences of falling and being in love (糖心传媒淭wo People,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淚n the Dolomites糖心传媒�), as well as the fundamentally life-affirming acts of lovemaking, procreating, and childrearing (糖心传媒淪ong of the Sun,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淔orever糖心传媒�). Other poems explore the mystery and wonder of more commonplace moments of productivity, as when the speaker is making risotto in 糖心传媒淭hursday.糖心传媒�
Yet these instances of creation appear alongside images of destruction糖心传媒攁 sinking Venice, a burning Notre-Dame, a splintering relic, a metastasizing cancer. That contrast highlights the book糖心传媒檚 central concerns with permanence and transience, presence and absence, love and loss.
But Longenbach also makes those concerns explicit through specific verses (糖心传媒淭he city never changes, it糖心传媒檚 never the same.糖心传媒�) and stanzas (糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檝e never done this before. / They糖心传媒檝e done it a thousand times.糖心传媒�) throughout the book. Meanwhile, leitmotifs糖心传媒攊ncluding pairs of children, a seaside village, Italian locales and phrases, barking dogs, and Christmastime kisses糖心传媒攕imultaneously inspire recognition in the reader while drawing their attention to an artform that relies on language to recreate, represent, or reconstruct its subject.
糖心传媒淭he knowledge we derive from our repeated experience of a poem is ultimately the knowledge of our own mortality糖心传媒攖he sense not only that we will be but also that we will have been,糖心传媒� Longenbach writes in his latest book of literary criticism, The Lyric Now (University of Chicago Press, 2020). According to the poet and professor, composing the individual poems and then compiling Forever helped him to better appreciate 糖心传媒渉ow the ending of some things makes possible the beginning and the middle of others.糖心传媒�
Experiencing the poems in the book will, he hopes, allow his readers to do the same.
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