From the Devotions: Poems

by Carl Phillips

Book Overview

With From the Devotions , Carl Phillips takes us even further into that dangerous space he has already made his own, where body and soul--ever restless--come explosively together. Speaking to a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555972632
• ISBN13: 9781555972639
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Graywolf Press
• Length: 82 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Very mixed feelings

As I began to read these poems, I found the author's extensive use of parenthetical phrases to be an irritating device that made the meaning of the poem elusive. However, the same jarring use of syntax (words rather than phrases) is a significant reason that the poem The Sibyl works very well. His renderings (translations from Greek) are splendid poetry. In short, in this volume I found a range from poems I found unneccesarily opaque to absolute gems, everything from meditations on what it means to be gay and moral to studies of Greek gods. This is a book that each reader must decide for themselves if this is a book for them - some will love it, others will not - and both will be fair accessments.