Four Incarnations: New and Selected Poems 1957-1991

By Robert Sward

From street-gang punk, to navy recruit, to rent-a-Santa, a collection of poems celebrating the possibilities of the individual. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0918273900
• ISBN13: 9780918273901
• Release Date: July 1991
• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Robert Sward...one of my first favorite poets when I began

ROBERT SWARD's "Four Incarnations, New & Selected Poems, 1957-1991," Coffee House Press. By Lyn Lifshin _____________ Robert Sward was one of my first favorite poets when I began reading contemporary poetry in the late 1960s. After being immersed in 16th and 17th century poetry, it felt like first seeing the world in color when, catapulted out of the university atmosphere I'd been in, I'd hang out in libraries, in their poetry sections. Almost everything in KISSING THE DANCER & OTHER POEMS, my first taste of Sward, became and has stayed a favorite poem: Uncle Dog, The Poet At 9; The Kite; Marriage; In Cities; People Glow; A Letter to His Psychiatrist; I Have Just Bought a House; Advertisements; Mothers-in-Law; Night Gown, Wife's Gown; Elm Trees; Pet Shop; All For A Day; New Hampshire, September...The startling, perfect lines, the twists, the playfulness, the magical use of speech rhythms and colloquial speech make Sward a writer I never tire of, always find delightful. His delight in what is always colored with what can be lost, a sense of what has been lost, adds to the poignancy, the caught moment or memory of a distant caught moment. I'm so glad he's back with this delicious collection. Re-reading "FOUR INCARNATIONS," I'm reminded again how terribly much I've missed reading some of them, how they touch me as they did when I first read them and later re read them. The new work sparkles, dances, moves, is as precise, as full of surprises, humor, pathos as the earlier poems. I love Alpha The Dog; Clancy the Dog; 34 Poets Named Robert; On my Way to the Korean War; Personal Stress Assessment; Mr. Amnesia; For my Son, Michael; and For Gloria on Her 60th Birthday." These are touching, zany, surreal, strong and, yes, sometimes goofy poems, all part of why Sward is still one of my current favorite poets. --Lyn Lifshin, Niskayuna,NY, 1990