false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174027738m/354812.jpg 354812 1 Winnner of the 2002 Philip Levine Prize for Poetry <P>I met a woman not long ago who told me that, as a new mother, she no longer has the concentration for the two-week commitment that a novel requires; instead, now she reads a poem every day. To her, I'll recommend Steven Gehrke. Poems like "First Snow: A Memory" and "Secretary School Graduation Dance, 1968" relate complex histories in compact form and will startle, unnerve, and please readers of every kind. Whoever you are, take courage from these poems, for if they tell us that life's not for sissies, they also remind us that, in the end, we all have a shot at being heroes. -- David Kirby <P>Steven Gehrke's The Pyramids of Malpighi is full of intelligence, passion, and surprise. Gehrke's breadth and sophistication are fully matched by his skillful technique; the resulting poetry is both Whitmanic and postmodern without falling into the pitfalls either of those adjectives might invoke. He is in touch with the chemical as much as the ineffable, with the political as much as the private and the purely aesthetic, and his style is already idiosyncratic in the best sense&#151;his thumbprint is clear on such lines as "capitalism is the taste of Windex on his tongue" and "let paradise be clean when I arrive, / let it smell of paint-thinner, of formaldehyde." This book promises great things to come, true enough&#151;but it is itself already a great thing, challenging, weighty, and satisfying. -- T.R. Hummer 345001 2004 The Pyramids of Malpighi total:4|5:3|4:1| 4 19 9 0 5 0 false false Sun Apr 12 19:57:14 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 12 19:57:14 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Apr 06 19:23:40 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 19:23:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 30 18:16:49 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 18:17:05 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue May 05 08:18:07 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 23 11:56:36 -0700 2008 Tue May 05 08:18:07 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Jun 06 06:17:46 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 06 06:17:50 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Feb 06 13:59:49 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 13:59:49 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Wed Dec 12 06:17:14 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 12 06:17:15 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Tue Aug 07 05:50:55 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 05:50:55 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Wed May 23 00:45:02 -0700 2007 Wed May 23 00:45:05 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=354812