Items related to American Sublime: Poems
A brilliant new collection by Elizabeth Alexander, whose "poems bristle with the irresistible quality of a world seen fresh" (Rita Dove, The Washington Post)
Too many people have seen too much
and lived to tell, or not tell, or tell
with their silent, patterned bodies,
their glass eyes, gone legs, flower-printed flesh . . .
-from "Notes From"
In her fourth remarkable collection, Elizabeth Alexander voices the outcries, dreams, and histories of an African American tradition that goes back to the slave rebellion on the Amistad and to the artists' canvases of nineteenth-century America. In persona poems, historical narratives, jazz riffs, sonnets, elegies, and a sequence of ars poetica, American Sublime is Alexander's most vivid and varied collection and affirms her place as one of America's most lively and gifted writers.
"Alexander is an unusual thing, a sensualist of history, a romanticist of race. She weaves biography, history, experience, pop culture and dream. Her poems make the public and private dance together." --Chicago Tribune
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
From Publishers Weekly:
Elizabeth Alexander is the author of three other poetry collections, most recently Antebellum Dream Book, as well as a collection of essays, The Black Interior.
Barbecues, midwives, "Soyinka and Senghor," "Etheridge Knight, from prison," grandparents, students, "not Congo but Zaire," mom, "aggressive magic," jail, "my book," "children, fathers, brothers"—in this kaleidoscopic fourth collection, Alexander traces shifting global histories, family alliances, ways of working and being trapped, and means of escape in four broad parts. The first, "American Blue," takes in the U.S.'s post- '60s history alongside Alexander's child-, student- and adult-hood (with stops at Ellington/Strayhorn's '40s, Monk's '50s and a dream of Krishna along the way). A selection from a larger series titled "Ars Poetica" covers the ways poetry confronts history: " 'Poetry,' I shouted, 'Poetry,'/ I screamed, 'Poetry,/ changes none of that/ by what it says/ or how it says, none./ But a poem is a living thing/ ... and as life/ it is all that can stand/ up to violence.' " "Amistad," the third section, channels the black Atlantic convincingly, while the last section, "American Sublime," consists of just two short lyrics; the latter ends "light that carries/ possibility, illuminates,// but can promise nothing but itself." This collection makes similarly restrained promises and delivers lucidly. (Oct. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherGraywolf Press
- Publication date2005
- ISBN 10 1555974325
- ISBN 13 9781555974329
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages96
- Rating
Buy New
Learn more about this copy
US$ 6.49
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Softcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 52GZZZ00D78G_ns
Buy New
US$ 6.49
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Softcover
Quantity: 4
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. . Seller Inventory # 5AUZZZ000FB4_ns
Buy New
US$ 6.49
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Paperback
Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Paperback. Publisher overstock, may contain remainder mark on edge. Seller Inventory # 9781555974329B
Buy New
US$ 7.01
Convert currency
Seller Image
American Sublime: Poems by Alexander, Elizabeth [Paperback ]
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Soft Cover
Quantity: 10
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9781555974329
Buy New
US$ 13.48
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime Format: Paperback
Published by
MacMillan Publishers
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Softcover
Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9781555974329
Buy New
US$ 9.80
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Softcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition 0.35. Seller Inventory # bk1555974325xvz189zvxnew
Buy New
US$ 15.33
Convert currency
Seller Image
American Sublime
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Softcover
Quantity: 5
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 3397577-n
Buy New
US$ 12.72
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Softcover
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.35. Seller Inventory # 353-1555974325-new
Buy New
US$ 19.61
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Paperback
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon1555974325
Buy New
US$ 23.64
Convert currency
Stock Image
American Sublime: Poems
Published by
Graywolf Press
(2005)
ISBN 10: 1555974325
ISBN 13: 9781555974329
New
Paperback
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard1555974325
Buy New
US$ 27.34
Convert currency