Velocities: New and Selected Poems: 1966-1992 (Poets, Penguin)
Dobyns is a restless and insistent writer, pounding out such novels asThe Wrestler's Cruel Studyand the Charlie Bradshaw detective series, all the while composing poetry of corporeal authority. Not to say that Dobyns is only a poet of the body, but a gritty physicality does, in fact, underlie all his poems, whether they're about death, love, hope, or stubborn what-the-hell lust. This volume gathers the best of eight books of poems as well as a selection of new, never-before-published works, and it takes us on a journey into territories both mythical and commonplace. Dobyns can write about Orpheus as convincingly as he can write about shaving, his baby daughter, or a vignette in a topless bar. Just as the title implies, there is a constant sense of motion and speed in Dobyns' poetry, an urgency, a longing for escape or release. He writes about angels and rats, sloth and bravado, the paintings of C{‚}ezanne and Balthus, kisses and cemeteries. If we were to choose one element to describe these poems, it would be water, which can move at many speeds and fill any space.Donna Seaman