Death Valley, and other poems in America
By: Alan Ross
Publisher: London Magazine Editions
Published: 1980
Place of publication: [London]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 92
First sentence: DEATH VALLEY // Leaving the Mojave, the hammock of highways / Slung between Bakersfield, Barstow, Baker, / Up 127 under skychart of Nevada saw-peaks / West of Armorgosa Desert, that long drive / Into nothing, 'sad poison' of love, that / 'Gymnast of inertia' beating in my ribs, / Carcase of Zabriske, of Echo Canyon, / Journeys so long contemplated but never taken / Or taken elsewhere, in another direction, / Sleeplessly travelling at night in one place.
Description: The poems in DV derive from a series of journeys made through America during the 1970s. One the surface a kind of travel book in verse, ranging from New York and Chicago to the coasts and deserts of California and the ports of Florida, from the bayous of Louisiana to the bluegrass racing country of Kentucky, from the gardens of Georgia to Texas, Mexico and the Keys, it is also the developing account of a relationship, and an inquiry into the way a number of Americans--writers, painters, photographers, architects--have worked in the places associated with them: Steinbeck, Stieglitz, Hopper, Hart Crane, Grant Wood among others. / Essentially, though, this is a book of individual poems--some describing long journeys, others sharp lyrical evocations of place--which are as much personal as they are to do with America. The result is a book on several levels, visually memorable and deeply felt. The unease of a country divided against itself works in counterpoint to the writer's own experiences and feelings. £3.00
Notes: "Poetry Book Society choice." www.poetrybook.co.uk
Table of contents: label: I
title: Death Valley South
pagenum: 001; label: VII
title: Postscript
pagenum: 089