The Looking House: Poems

by Fred Marchant

"To my mind, what distinguishes Marchant's work is his willingness to take a hard look at human suffering while maintaining his unflinching, delicate tone." ― The Journal

house that floats
on a muddy river in spring-time flood,
house like a human head on the surface,
house with a boy's face, turned up.
―from "House on Water, House in Air" In The Looking House ―Fred Marchant's new collection of poems―the poet lays out a map of human suffering, from wars within the psyche to wars that rage across the contemporary landscape. These intense, innovative lyrics stir and disturb, remaining aware of the way history bears down upon us and makes us responsible for the consequences of our choices. Marchant maps the shelters, the "precarious places" that give us refuge and "teach us everything." Such a place might be an open window at midnight in childhood, or the broken sill of a deserted hut on the coast of Donegal. In these poems a "looking house" can just as easily be a locked ward, a barracks, a movie theater at midday, or that room in Rome where Keats lay dying. These poems may show us a broken world, but they also offer glimpses of survival and renewal, of trust and reconnection.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Fred Marchant is a professor of English and the director of the creative writing program and the poetry center at Suffolk University in Boston. He graduated from Brown University and later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is a longtime teaching affiliate of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, as he was himself a conscientious objector within the military during the Vietnam War. He has taught workshops at various sites across the country, including The Frost Place (Franconia, NH), the Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA), and the Veterans Writing Group (Sebastopol, CA). In 2009 Marchant was co-winner (with Afaa Michael Weaver) of the May Sarton Award from the New England Poetry Club, given to poets whose “work is an inspiration to other poets.”

Reviews

[Carolyne]

I read this book of poetry in an afternoon that started with a glance while making a sandwich and turned into a couple hours reading aloud and pacing about my kitchen, to hell with the rest of the afternoon. A few poems I read a few times, and the whole book I turned back to within a week to read again, each time finding something new and valuable on the pages. These poems are tender, honest, and at times bucking with a surprising strength. According to the poems' surface topics, Marchant and I have lived opposite lives, but each poem had something whole and human that got me shouting "yes, that's it!" at the page turns, feeling like I'd just stumbled on a sidewalk and found something about myself I'd lost a long time ago and never realized. The Looking House is the poetic equivalent, I'd say, of putting on a winter coat and finding $40 in the pocket - warm and lucky. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

[Carolyne Mistake]

I read this book of poetry in an afternoon that started with a glance while making a sandwich and turned into a couple hours reading aloud and pacing about my kitchen, to hell with the rest of the afternoon. A few poems I read a few times, and the whole book I turned back to within a week to read again, each time finding something new and valuable on the pages. These poems are tender, honest, and at times bucking with a surprising strength. According to the poems' surface topics, Marchant and I have lived opposite lives, but each poem had something whole and human that got me shouting "yes, that's it!" at the page turns, feeling like I'd just stumbled on a sidewalk and found something about myself I'd lost a long time ago and never realized. The Looking House is the poetic equivalent, I'd say, of putting on a winter coat and finding $40 in the pocket - warm and lucky. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

[Andy Oram]

Although this book doesn't hit as many high points as Full Moon Boat, it is fine Marchant, clthing his rawness in crisp rhetoric. Many of the poems are narrative. Topics include memories or war and childhood, and dementia and death.

[Nancy White]

This is Fred Marchant's new book and this wonderful poet just keeps getting better. Honest about the darkness, even about evil itself, and yet he still trusts our goodness and believes in beauty too. His lines never show off, and with their careful craft they earn the right to be heard--and always transcend craft in their flight. Read it.