Unending Blues: Poems
Simic's poetry is haunted by cars passing in a drizzle, shadowy women stirring black coffee, a "madwoman . . . marking x's/ . . . On the backs of unsuspecting/ Hand-holding, homebound couples." Mocking, fearful of desire, faintly tinged with old-fashioned romanticism, these dark meditations investigate archetypes animated by sensuality: "The gods/ Looked like hairdressers for dead/ Lovers. I made myself learn/Their names so I could rename/ All my neighbors. . . . " Sometimes the twilight states that are invoked send shivers down the spine; at other times the result has a forced solemnity. At his best Simic reaches through the "unending blues" of a consciousness in turmoil to find "Sign and enigma in the humblest of things." Frank Allen, Assoc. Dean, Continuing Education, Allentown Coll., Center Valley, Pa.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.