糖心传媒

Earthling, the newest book of poetry by , the Joseph H. Gilmore Professor of English, had its roots in a poem he wrote called 糖心传媒淧astoral.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淚 heard something in it that sounded fresh to me,糖心传媒� he says, a different tone than in his previous poetry collection, The Iron Key (W. W. Norton, 2010). 糖心传媒淚t seemed to be talking about ordinary things, but in a way that made them seem at the same time kind of spectral or otherworldly. There was also the capacity for wry humor in that tone糖心传媒攁nd all of that seemed exciting to me.糖心传媒�

Written first, 糖心传媒淧astoral糖心传媒� ultimately became the final poem of Earthling, the poet and literary critic糖心传媒檚 fifth poetry collection. 聽The tone drove the book糖心传媒檚 development, and the collection糖心传媒檚 overarching narrative isn糖心传媒檛 one of events, 糖心传媒渂ut of feeling or spiritual development,糖心传媒� he says.

Publishers Weekly calls the book, which was published this fall by W. W. Norton, 糖心传媒渁 moving case for love糖心传媒檚 power to sustain us.糖心传媒� Earthling moves constantly between the mundane and the mystical as it contemplates mortality, giving voice to a range of emotions that knowledge of life糖心传媒檚 finiteness can create.

The book糖心传媒檚 shifting viewpoints are exemplified perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in 糖心传媒淭he Crocodile,糖心传媒� a poem that playfully considers the perspective of that creature. But the whimsy also offers Longenbach an opportunity to reflect on his own mother糖心传媒檚 death糖心传媒攁n experience that, despite his efforts, had found no home in his poetry before.

糖心传媒淚 don糖心传媒檛 remember quite how it happened. I just got the idea of using this fanciful trope of the speaking crocodile as a way to get at the reality of this confrontation with mortality,糖心传媒� he says. The lines in the poem糖心传媒檚 fourth section are plain and terse:

When my mother died,

I was right beside her.

She糖心传媒檇 been unconscious for a day.

My sister and my father were there, too.

糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 hard to get more flatly clear and straightforward in language than that,糖心传媒� he says, and hopes that what is evoked is also 糖心传媒渟pooky and revelatory.糖心传媒� He brings together the flatness of his language with the conceit of the crocodile as he ends the section:

Then, immediately, the color left her face,

She was no longer in her body,

And she sank beneath the lagoon.

糖心传媒淎ll I糖心传媒檓 ever trying to do is to be scrupulously and absolutely clear about what I糖心传媒檓 saying,糖心传媒� Longenbach says. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 become a discipline to me that has taken my poems to their strangest places, because trying to be very clear about things is a difficult, dangerous, and unsettling practice.糖心传媒�

The title Earthling came to him when he discovered that it is one of the oldest words in the language, an Old English term for a person who plows or tills the earth.

糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檇 assumed it was 1950s sci-fi speak: 糖心传媒楾ake me to your leader,糖心传媒櫶切拇�媒� Longenbach says. 糖心传媒淚 thought it was entrancing that 糖心传媒榚arthling糖心传媒� was our name for a person intimate with the soil. And it seemed like the perfect emblem for the tone that was distinguishing these poems as they accumulated糖心传媒攖he little earthling coming out of his hole in the ground to look about.

糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 the vulnerability of it, yet the substantial inevitability and necessity of it, too.糖心传媒�

The will host James Longenbach for a reading from Earthling on November 30 at 5 p.m. in the Welles-Brown Room at Rush Rhees Library.