Portrait and Dream: New and Selected Poems

by Bill Berkson

Titled after a Jackson Pollock painting at once figural and abstract, this collection spans nearly fifty years of Bill Berkson’s poetry in all its deftness and variety. His poems, full of nuance, intensity, and exuberant wit, spread meaning across the page like quicksilver. Engaging in a mix of topics and styles, Berkson deals with aspects of the observable world, dreams, art, elements, and ecstasy to create a body of work suffused with light. Born in New York, Bill Berkson is a poet, art critic, and teacher. Formerly a professor of liberal arts at the San Francisco Art Institute, he lives in San Francisco and New York.

Genres: Poetry

314 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though mostly grey now he’s still one of the sunniest poets around.

I like his work for so many reasons: the humor, the syntactical magic and sleight of mind, the sublime elevation of the mundane through clear & close observation, the irreducible mystery bathed in the clear light of day, the concision (he’s written some of the best short poems around, succinct and cryptically vast), the ability to subsume a host of contemporary influences/homages into his own particular style, and above all the masterly craftsmanship and ultra-fine ear.

He does all this while “keeping it new” (but not too new) and allowing his deep Romantic/Classical roots to intertwine above and below ground and up into daily brightness.

On Ice

Doors of jostled vicinity
An eager angle extending in the sky a grey chasm
Tip of island street morning wash
A waking minute pointed to end quote
Squeeze left in diamond-beaded industry
Wedgeful elaborations desist
Shut behind us without saying
White lights from the powder-keg days

[Jeffrey Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

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