Below Cold Mountain

by Joseph Stroud

A masterful suite of poems which takes the reader on an Odyssean voyage across the globe.

Genres: Poetry

114 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1998

Reviews

[Michael]

I like how Stroud, especially in this collection, uses humor and lightness in his observations of the world around him. This book in some ways doesn't feel like one book - the sections vary tremendously in tone, character, rhythm, point of view, etc. so it feels somewhat disjointed. That said, the opening poem, which is a tribute to his father and a description of the loss he felt after his father's passing, and many poems in the first section are so powerful they carry the day and make the journey into his world well worth it.

[Wyatt Reu]

Great poems. Stroud has a wide sense of life. His world is material and holy, his vision of man (and himself) an essentially tragic one, we are nothing if not mortal, and yet it is this death which opens the door to an undeniable resplendence in his work. The poems are largely unhurried, he has a sure voice and a patient pen — although there are times where a spiritual urgency shakes through these poems, sometimes as mere tremors and sometimes as earthquakes. Unashamedly erotic, Stroud fertilizes and is fertilized by the world. This collection is a record of instants of communion, of shock, of awakening, they each, as all great poems should strive to do, reveal to us a genuine and strange encounter with another, and do so unpretentiously and with great care.

[Corey]

He's really good.

[Karen]

The range of Stroud's poetry -- short, long, more formal, haiku-like, free-verse - differs from section to section. What is consistent is the visceral, the way the poems come to grips with grief, nature, landscape, death. My tendency is always to like short, concise poems that turn themselves around to peer at something in a unique way, so Stroud's terser efforts resonated more with me. I also like the everyday beauty he parses so well -- "To the dead, paradise is the sidewalk you stroll down/looking in windows, humming, stopping for coffee." or this from Manna "....I know it is impossible to hold/for long what we love of the world, but look/at me, is it foolish, shameful, arrogant to say this,/see how the snow drifts down, look how happy/I am." Beautiful.

[Kelly McCoy]

This guys shreds. Excellent. Especially loved “Lines.”