Stephen Dobyns 
The Day’s Last Light Reddens the Leaves of the Copper Beech 

This new collection from best-selling poet and novelist Stephen Dobyns focuses on the hard, ephemeral truth of mortality, and includes the section ‘Sixteen Sonnets for Isabel’ about the recent death of his wife. In true Dobyns fashion, these poems grip and guide readers into a state of empathy, raising the question of how one lives and endures in the world.

Inhoudsopgave

CONTENTS


Part One


1—Stories

2—Stars

3—Wisdom

4—Parable: Horse

5—Mrs. Brewster’ Second Grade Class Picture

6—Furniture

7—Water-Ski

8—Leaf Blowers

9—Parable: Heaven

10—Good Days


Part Two: Sixteen Sonnets for Isabel


1—Monochrome

2—Song

3—Technology

4—Skyrocket

5—Lizard

6—Swap Shop

7—Alien Skin

8—Pain

9—Niagara Falls

10—The Wide Variety

11—Skin

12—Never

13—Casserole

14—Inexplicably

15—Prague

16—Gardens


Part Three


1—The Miracle of Birth

2— The Inquisitor

3—Fly

4—The Poet’s Disregard

5—Parable: Gratitude

6—Sincerity

7—Statistical Norm

8—Turd

9—Parable: Friendship

10—The Dark Uncertainty

11—No Simple Thing


Part Four: Reversals


1—Narrative

2—Determination

3—Jump

4—What Happened?

5—Philosophy

6—Melodrama

7—Exercise

8—Failure

9—Constantine XI

10—Literature

11—Jism

12—Valencia

13—Thanks


Part Five


1—Persephone, Etc.

2—Crazy Times

3—Parable: Fan/Paranoia

4—Winter Wind

5—So It Happens

6—Tinsel

7—Parable: Poetry

8—Scale

9—Recognitions

10—Laugh

Over de auteur

Stephen Dobyns is the author of 23 novels, including the popular ‘Saratoga’ crime novels, 14 books of poetry, one book of short stories, and two collections of essays on poetry. His books of poetry include
Winter’s Journey (Copper Canyon Press, 2010);
Mystery, So Long (2005);
The Porcupine’s Kisses (2002);
Do They Have a Reason? (2000);
Pallbearers Envying the One Who Rides (Penguin, 1999);
Common Carnage (1996);
Velocities: New and Selected Poems 1966-1992 (1994);
Cemetery Nights (1987), which won a Melville Cane Award;
Black Dog, Red Dog (1984), which was a winner in the National Poetry Series;
Heat Death (1980); and
Concurring Beasts (1972), which was the 1972 Lamont Poetry Selection of The Academy of American Poets. His novels include
Boy in the Water (Holt/Metropolitan, 1999);
The Church of Dead Girls (1997);
Saratoga Fleshpot (1995);
The Wrestler’s Cruel Study (1993); and
Saratoga Haunting (1993). His novels have been translated into more than ten languages. Among his many honors and awards are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Dobyns has worked as a reporter for
Detroit News, and has written review for such publications as
The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the
Times Literary Supplement. He has taught at various academic institutions, including Sarah Lawrence College, the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers, the University of Iowa, Syracuse University, and Boston University. He currently lives in Westerly, Rhode Island.