Source

by Mark Doty

Book Overview

This bold wide-ranging new collection -- Mark Doty's sixth book of poems -- demonstrates the unmistakable lyricism, fierce observation and force of feeling that have made his poetry significant to readers on both sides of the Atlantic. The new poems in Source deepen Doty's exploration of the paradox of selfhood. Are we edgeless and unbounded, or locked within our own singularity? What is it to be one person in the world's great multiplicity of selves?...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0066210135
• ISBN13: 9780066210131
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

"Private Life" much more than it seems

I typically don't raise issue with others' reviews. After all, most have been taught that a poem can have many interpretations. Yet to think of "Private Life" as a compassionate description of a beautiful caged creature is missing the point entirely, I think. In the first stanza, the speaker describes Little Kaiser (a caged parrot in a popular tourist destination) as being "confronted" by the noisy hecklers and insensitive tourists who pass him every day, acknowledging, "He doesn't seem to mind," the operative word there being "seem." Two stanzas later, we learn that his cage carries the warning, "I bite." [Obviously, he does mind.] Then the speaker passively suggests, "He couldn't be said to be/lonely; all day the world comes to him." How could anyone who gets so much attention be lonely? When the speaker then describes the pedestrians as an "endless procession of faces, only a few of them known," the parrot takes on a much more human quality, and that's where the parrot turns into a metaphorical vehicle to describe the human condition in general, but a gay man's condition quite specifically. This metaphor gathers momentum in the last 5 or 6 stanzas, describing his tail as "stunning red,/a frank indulgence of the private life." [wink, nudge] When the speaker shifts focus from the subject to the speaker ("What does Kaiser dream?"), (s)he develops a more philosophical posture rather than the one of the passive journalist from the beginning of the poem. First we are asked to imagine what Kaiser's not dreaming ("Probably no original paradise;/this little trooper was born in a shop."), invoking of course the story of the heterosexual, biblical Creation, of which we gay men obviously don't have an equivalent. Rather, we have been asked to acquire a gay culture that we're repeatedly relegated to and blindly accept. The speaker then asks, "should he prefer a single,/perfect other?"...pointing to the cultural stereotype (accepted by gays and straights alike) of the idea that gay men are promiscuous and not easily tied down: "one human form/after another bent over him/in momentary delight, while he takes//their measure, and mouths a limited vocabulary, all greeting and praise." But that's enough communication for our parrot/gay man, the speaker's last description giving it to us most plainly just in case we missed it already: "promiscuous singer, whose tongue/lifts and curls out to the world, performing/all night in his blanketed cage." Doty has dealt with similar subjects before, lamenting over such gay conundrums as the "austere code of tricks" or that "we are all on display in this town, sweet machines, powerless, consumed." But with "Private Life," [even the title suggests you look beyond the parrot, as Doty's title has] he's turned the sensitive, curious descriptions of a gay man at odds with his own "culture" in addition to the world itself into a more honest, indeed, unflinching, look at the way we move and process and feel...or (unfortunate

Revolutionary!

I don't mean to sound cranky, but I'm tired of hearing the words "beautiful" and "moving" in relationship to the work of Mark Doty. Of course his poems are these things, but they're much, much more. They're rigorous in their thinking; they're relentless in their questions about perception and mortality, and revolutionary in their evocation of a social and metaphysical vision. This is a poetry of ideas. It's a poetry that rolls up its sleeves and takes its reader gently--but FIRMLY--down "into the source of spring."

Elegance! Compassion! A Real Pleasure!

Mark Doty in his latest collection of poems, continues to delight and entertain us with his brilliant style of writing that is elegant, compassionate, and unabashedly, and proudly gay. These poems are of a universal language, speaking to all sexual orientations, for they are not all gay themed verses. Doty's poems are always a real pleasure to read for they speak from the heart on subjects that are important and of interest to many of us who share his same ideals, thoughts, and feelings. I have always been a fan of his poems for that reason. As he describes the degradation of Walt Whitman's vision of a democratic America in "Letter to Walt Whitman", or of the joy and entertainment that "Little Kaiser" brings to so many people in "Private Life", I can not help but smile at the joy he sees and experiences in trying to get close to Whitman, and in exploring the inner thoughts of "Little Kaiser". I have to admit I am a little prejudiced toward these two lovely poems, for each has references to companion parrots. I loved the poem, "Letter to Walt Whitman" that Doty wrote after touring Whitman's home in Camden. He was trying to find something there that would make Whitman seem more real and still alive. He did when he discovered Whitman's parrot preserved by the taxidermist's wax, and wrote, "Then one thing made you seem alive: your parrot." And in "Private Life" we learn all about "Little Kaiser" the African Grey parrot, who has been a fixture for many years at the local headshop on Commercial Street in Provincetown. Doty has a way of describing all life beings with the beauty they so rightly deserve. This sixth book of verse by Mark Doty is one I will be returning to many, many times. The poems in this collection cover a wide variety of subjects, and this creates an opportunity for everyone to find one of interest to them that will definitely become a favorite. The several poems he writes about Provincetown, a town I have come to care about and call a second home over the past quarter century, are my favorites. Doty seems to have the same feelings for this special place that I have. It is the beauty of his words that keep me looking forward to and eagerly awaiting his next collection of poems. A Real Pleasure!!Joe Hanssen

From the Source...

Mark Doty's, one of America's premiere poets, has done it again with his newest collection of literary gems, "Source". Doty's poems cover a range of topics, from dead wildlife to working out, all exude a personal flair that enlightens and illuminates our existance while sharing his. His poetry both confounds and inspires; you read and question the meaning, and then, find a diamond mine of a line you cannot let go, and mentally ponder the treasure. Some poets aggreviate by not allowing access into their lives or meaning with their work; Doty opens the door, doesn't shy away from honesty or complex thought, and allows us to wander through his charming maze of words.As a reader of his work, it's nice to see him returning to old familiar themes, especially those that mention Wally, a heart's love who perished due to AIDS. While we may write and write about those songs that inspire us, perhaps there can be never enough said about some things, and Doty casts a beautiful literary light on those topics with each passing year.Source is an excellent add to your poetry collection.

As always, always breathtaking

If you are a reader of Mark Doty, this is a must have book. If you are new to Doty, this is a fine place to start. What is so beautiful about these poems is that they are so deceptively accessible that they draw anyone and everyone in. Somewhere along the line, we were taught that poetry needs to be incomprehensible to be beautiful-and that those poems that are comprehensible must be simple. Not with Doty. This poems are as complicated as any, but as accessible as William Carlos Williams. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Buy it. Read it. Then you'll get it.