Sonnets from New England
Subtitle: Love Songs
Publisher: WordsworthGreenwich Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Greenwich, CT USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 132
ISBN-13: 9781469909950
Copyright date: 2014
Description: The origin of the sonnet means "little song." These sonnets are about deep abiding love grounded within the quietly charming landscape of the villages, mountains, coastline and lakes of New England. What power connects us more as human beings than love? The love songs of "Sonnets from New England" were written to connect lovers to their heart's content. These little songs and rich, color photos inspire the hearts and souls of those who dare to embrace life's epic quest for enduring, authentic love.

"A world of lovers pulsing, breathing, absorbing, secreting so passionately even angels are envious." -- John H. Sibley, Author of "Being and Homelessness" 

"Beneath this feast of vivid impressions and fine details, 'Sonnets from New England' tacitly acknowledges the enigma and evanescence of life. One hears in these sonnets the sensibility of a contemporary avatar of Wallace Stevens. It is when Lentz describes nature that his lines relax the most, and these tautly structured sonnets expand, as if imbibing the pristine air of the pastoral New England environs the poet describes. Ultimately, 'Sonnets from New England' is a stimulating, reflective visit to a poet’s mind. We turn the pages of a life fully embraced, deeply felt, and eloquently expressed. These sonnets speak in vibrant images and eloquent phrases. Poetry has its itinerary. The personal is the surest route to the universal; we explore another soul, and discover our own. By recreating pivotal moments in his life and articulating values that sustain him, David Lentz helps us find true north in ourselves. This is the most important connection art can make." -- Eric Sonnenschein, Novelist, Author of "Ad Nomad
 
"Arguably, in no other literary genre/medium do form and meaning work so concertedly toward the same end—sensational cognition—than in the sonnet. Yet in received forms, such as the sonnet, the conventions are strict and not easily given over to creative whimsy, let alone the unfettered stream-of-consciousness utterances that much of modern literature’s free verse favors. Given this, one often finds that works in received forms feel like something of a literary exercise, where excellence is gauged by one’s implicit and explicit control of the medium. Of course, there are exceptions to this: the Bard, for one. And Keats. And in more modern times, Hopkins and most notably, Rilke. The Irish poet Derek Mahon still writes rhyming verse resembling sonnets. And so, too, does the American poet David B. Lentz... Case in point, the opening quatrain from “Ireland.”

'What is it about the Kelly velvet hillsides and the hoary avocado sea,
The vertical cliffs where the Gulf Stream commences its southern bend,
Slashing like a sculptor gone mad or a rancorous God who’s angry,
Heaving galaxies of lichen shrouded stones for potato farmers to tend.'

No doubt, Mahon, or even Heaney, would have been pleased to pen those lines." -- Gary W. Anderson, Novelist and Author of "Best of All Possible Worlds"
  
"A charming bouquet of sonnets and loving testimonial to the poet's wife. The collection is also a sampler of various sonnet forms, including one of Lentz's own invention. The only classic styles I failed to find were a curtal (or shortened) and a caudate (with a "tail")... The use of a seven-beat line blends the beat of the classic ballad to the rhythms of the sonnet: a nice innovation. Recommended for the eternal romantic in everyone's heart." -- Christopher Bernard, Poet, Author of "The Rose Shipwreck"

"Beautiful, delightful, meaningful and more importantly bare truth expressed in writing with style." -- Goodreads