You Don't Miss Your Water: Poems

by Cornelius Eady

Here are twenty-one poems yoked by thought and language to the filial bond and set in motion by the looming death of a cold and distant father. Whether physically absent or emotionally estranged, the father in these poems has always been a dominating, difficult presence in the lives of his the daughter run wild, the son who has disappointed, the wife he never did marry. Watching his father ebb away, the poet wonders at the man's ornery and cantankerous reality even in the face of death - and at his own newfound sense of power. But as well, he searches for a bond, an acknowledgment that he is his father's son.

Genres: Poetry

33 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Like Joyce and Tolstoy, Cornelius Eady is an American writer focusing largely on matters of race and society, His poetry often centers on jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questions of race and class. His poetry is often praised for its simple and approachable language.

Reviews

[Ching-In · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite Cornelius book. I read it when I was reading father books, trying to write the father poems in my novel in verse and this one stood out. What I admired -- the complexity of the father and the range of emotion dealing with loss, illness and death.

[Ananda Esteva · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is so touching!!!!

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a just world, I could give this book three and a half stars. I really liked his brief meditations on losing your father, and found a few of them moving. Problem is, these are not poems and most don't try to be. The pieces are just short prose reminiscences without the verbal qualities that elevate them into verse. With a couple of exceptions, these reminiscences are not even linated like verse. It is a good book, I recommend it, but it is not a book of poems.

[Nativida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books Jacqueline Woodsoncites as a reference that she went to when writing Brown Girl Dreaming.

[Ginnie Leiner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard Professor Eady speak and read his poetry twice via the Cave Canem Poetry event at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. This book deals with his father's death and was particularly meaningful the year George's father died.

[Donnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books of poetry. It deals with loss and family-anger wonderfully.

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I think that every hymn is a flare of longing, that the key to any heaven is language." - from "Paradiso"

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

good, good, so good, but it didn't touch

[Anja Sebunya · Rating 5 out of 5]

RAW… PAINFUL… PUNCH in your stomach…. what a way to deal with losing a parent who was not anything like a parent. Love love loved these poems.

[Edmund Davis-Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read about losing his dad. Felt more like narrative than poetry to me.

I am curious to read more of Mr. Eady's work though.

[Emilie Guan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uh-uh! he shoots back, eyes expanding to take
in all God's dangers. This is how life, sharpened to
a fine point, plunges into what we call hope. This is
how death, if it's given enough time, irons out the
small details.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The inside heart of someone's old school photo album. People you didn't know but now you do.

I don't know how these prose-looking pages hold so much music, but they do.

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting poems of his relationship with his dad. My favorite Eady.