Dragon in the Clouds: Poems and Translations

by Sam Hamill

Hamill, Sam

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published March 1, 1989

About the author

Poet, editor, translator, and essayist, Sam Hamill is author of more than thirty books including two from BOA Editions, Gratitude (1998), and Dumb Luck(2002). He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including ones from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, two Washington Governor’s Arts Awards, the Stanley Lindberg Lifetime Achievement Award for Editing, and the Washington Poets Association Lifetime Achievement Award for poetry. He co-founded Copper Canyon Press, and has worked extensively in prisons and with battered women and children.

Reviews

[Zee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I understood anything I just read, but I liked it anyway.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous poems in the style of Chinese/Japanese poetry. So vivid and beautiful, striking imagery. Hamill uses the minimum words he needs to convey emotion, thought, and visuals. Lovely read.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adore Japanese and Chinese poetry, and this book is no exception. Sparse, with every word chosen with careful precision, and still portraying everything that a longer poem could convey. I absolutely loved it. I love poetry that puts emphasis on visual images, on expressing something through imagery. Sam Hamill does that particularly well.

It does mention places and people I've never heard of, just in the nature of some of the poems being translations, and I feel like I missed out on something in those poems, but all the same, it's a wonderful book.