Sapphics Against Anger and Other Poems

by Timothy Steele

Steele's poems fuse traditional verse forms with contemporary subjects

Genres: Poetry

66 pages, Hardcover

First published August 12, 1986

Reviews

[PEN Center USA · Rating 5 out of 5]

1987 PEN Center USA Award Winner for Poetry

[Vasha7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first reaction, of course, was to exclaim, "Wow, meter and rhyme!" Is this the case of the talking dog, where it's so remarkable that he does it, that we shouldn't ask how well? No, I'd say that Steele's choice of these forms is a challenge rather than an artifice; and though I inevitably associate them with light verse, and light indeed some of these poems are, Steele's serious side comes through too.

He covers a range of subjects: childhood memories; interior musings sparked by an everyday moment or a piece of art; streetscapes of Los Angeles; a couple of love poems.

If this volume was all at the level of its five or six best (not great but good) poems -- "Sapphics Against Anger", "Angel", "Last Tango", "But Home Is Here", "The Chorus", a few others -- I would keep it; as it is, I don't think it worth re-reading.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 S8145s 1986