An Algebra

by Don Bogen

from Bagatelles

 

Bagatelles,

mere gestures

                        in dry air,

each pluck a dot,

strokes marked on silence

reaching into the dark. 

 

Beauty is strict,

                          it passes: 

 

an echo, a wedge

of harmony, sudden,

broken—Who goes there?

 

An Algebra is an interwoven collection of eight sequences and sixteen individual poems, where images and phrases recur in new contexts, connecting and suspending thoughts,   emotions and insights. By turns, the poems leap from the public realm of urban decay and outsourcing to the intimacies of family life, from a street mime to a haunting dream, from elegy to lyric evocation. Wholeness and brokenness intertwine in the book; glimpsed patterns and startling disjunctions drive its explorations.

 

An Algebra is a work of changing equivalents, a search for balance in a world of transformation and loss. It is a brilliantly constructed, moving book by a poet who has achieved a new level of imaginative expression and skill.

 

Praise for After the Splendid Display

“In his best work . . . conscience and craft fuse seamlessly, and the result is original and arresting."—The Nation

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Gabriel Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bogen deserves to be mentioned along side Charles Wright for his ability to turn the mundane into the profound. There is such a strong internal logic to these poems. It’s like he’s walking a tight rope expertly between the definite and the indefinite.

[Joe]

Saw DB read at Mason a few months back. An economy and sinuousness to line and language and sometimes gentle. Thought of DBQ but not quite as ecstatic / sonically dense. Mostly elegiac in mode, which also sets this apart. Found myself enjoying clarity, precision of as latest reads have been...excessive.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heavy on the heartbreaks in life. Not an easy read from either subject or understanding. Many of the poems require time to digest. Would read again.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

haunting