Title: By the numbers /
Authors: Richardson, James, 1950-; Woodberry Poetry Room (Harvard College Library).
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press,
Year: 2010
Subjects: Poetry, Modern; American poetry
Abstract: "For James Richardson, poetry is speculative and serious play. By the Numbers captivates with its range of line and movement, its microlyrics, crypto-quatrains, and "ten-second essays," its aphorisms that twist and snap. Drawing from myriad lore--Ovidian and Shakespearean, georgic and scientific--Richardson makes familiar scenes strange enough to provoke startling insights."--Page 4 of cover.
Contents: [Pt.] I. Bit Parts. Northwest passage -- In Shakespeare -- Special victims unit -- Subject, verb, object -- Emergency measures -- Metallurgy for dummies -- Head-on -- Iron age -- Classic bar scenes : Apollo at happy hour ; Ovidian deposition ; Pygmalion among the young ; Twilight of a God ; Orpheus at last call ; Apollo in age -- Zeus : a press conference -- State-sponsored -- Echo -- Bit parts -- The God who -- [pt.] II. Vectors 3.0 : even more aphorisms and ten-second essays -- [pt.] III. By the numbers. By the numbers -- Birds in rain -- Are we alone? or Physics you can do at home -- Prokaryotes -- The stars in order of -- Origin of language -- Songs for senility -- Room temperature -- [pt.] IV. Small hours. Shore town, winter -- Tableau -- Postmortem Georgic -- Night lights : (1977- ) ; Blackout ; The rich man sotto voce ; To a tea ; Slice of life ; Who has seen the wind ; Red, green, blue ; Star ; Reading light -- Roads not taken -- Roads taken -- End of summer.