0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Poetry texts & anthologies

Buy Now

Schooled Lives - Poems by Two Brothers (Paperback) Loot Price: R470
Discovery Miles 4 700
Schooled Lives - Poems by Two Brothers (Paperback): Barry Benson, Steve Benson

Schooled Lives - Poems by Two Brothers (Paperback)

Barry Benson, Steve Benson

 (sign in to rate)
Loot Price R470 Discovery Miles 4 700

Bookmark and Share

Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days

"The Benson brothers have put together not only a fine book of poems well worth keeping close but also a strong testament of faith in those subtleties of blood that can elevate the ordinary into song." -Gary Gildner, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, Pushcart Prize, etc.; author of two novels, a collection of short stories, two memoirs, and nine books of poetry, including Cleaning a Rainbow, his most recent. "This is what poetry was meant to be, neither overly-sentimental nor veiled in obscure imagery. The poems read like music you have discovered as you search across the radio dial. Once found you stay tuned, turning the pages for more. This is adult poetry with risky passion, psychological pain, sensual thirst and the ache of longing. There are no forced inventions or over-clever literary devices. In fact, you are rarely aware of the writer, only the emotional landscape that unfolds with each line. The writing has a quality found in Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past - an old picket fence, the ruts in a lane. The sun doesn't merely shine on a meadow, but rather is "This July-fireball afternoon in a pasture . . ." When an alcoholic, frail father irritatedly boots an empty paint can towards his sons it becomes the tumbling, end-over-end kick-off of an imagined football game, the boys waiting underneath it to return the shiny offering. I find the value of any poem is increased or diminished in the sharing. The sharing of these poems, I can attest, stokes the delight and interest of another. "SCHOOLED LIVES: Poems by Two Brothers is a gift Barry and Steve Benson have placed in our hands." -John Gaps III, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, author of God Left Us Alone Here: A Book of War (poems and combat photographs). "Who says a book of poems need be the domain of a singular poet and aesthetic? With Schooled Lives by accomplished poets and brothers Steve and Barry Benson, you get double the perspectives, imagery and deft language about life in the unruly, rural Midwest and other climes. Here too, are lively pairings of poems that dialogue with each other. For instance, Steve's "Candy for the Fat Lady" begins, "She bulged in the bed of a parked pickup truck / where it cost two quarters to gawk at her thousand pounds..." counters Barry's "Wild Man of Borneo" - ." . .not far from fields / where we boys baled hay in country dust and sun and sweat, / patrons stare at the geek in rags and a promise..." Though both poets are natural storytellers, Steve -- a visual artist - leans toward a leaner, impressionistic verse compared to Barry's love of narrative. This weaving together of writers is a welcomed addition to the genre. As Steve claims, "The Best Writers are spiders; they connect everything / with fine homespun lines /. . . (and) live in the trembling / nets of their own designs." -Barbara Lau, author of The Long Surprise (winner of the X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize) & the award-winning drama, Raising Medusa. No relation to me, but brothers in the guts of deep, dark, old, weird America, the viscera of heartland their shared family legends, firsthand feedback stirring one another's grief and energy along, resilient as cubs, memories crystals hard and sharp, these two linked different men are wrenchingly attentive to a restless, emphatic, and receptive, sensuous life in contact with and imagining the world they've known. Their poems' honest power braces against labor's compromises and intuition's leaps, tradition and discovery, to bring us into real places some of us have never been and others may not have left. -Maine language poet (eight books published) and practicing psychologist(not related to Barry or Steve Benson).

General

Imprint: 1st World Publishing Inc
Country of origin: United States
Release date: October 2009
First published: October 2009
Authors: Barry Benson • Steve Benson
Dimensions: 229 x 152 x 8mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback - Trade
Pages: 142
ISBN-13: 978-1-4218-9135-4
Categories: Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Poetry texts & anthologies > General
Promotions
LSN: 1-4218-9135-2
Barcode: 9781421891354

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

You might also like..

Our Words, Our Worlds - Writing On Black…
Makhosazana Xaba Paperback R315 R291 Discovery Miles 2 910
Years Of Fire And Ash - South African…
Wamuwi Mbao Paperback R260 R232 Discovery Miles 2 320
The Sun And Her Flowers
Rupi Kaur Paperback  (5)
R380 R339 Discovery Miles 3 390
Knapsekerels
Pieter Fourie Paperback R175 R162 Discovery Miles 1 620
In A Free State - A Music
P.R. Anderson Paperback R209 Discovery Miles 2 090
Life - Poems To Help Navigate Life's…
Donna Ashworth Hardcover R250 R227 Discovery Miles 2 270
Loss - Poems To Better Weather The Many…
Donna Ashworth Hardcover  (1)
R250 R227 Discovery Miles 2 270
Olga Kirsch - A Life In Poetry
Egonne Roth Paperback R275 R254 Discovery Miles 2 540
Die Maan Is Swart - Gedigte Van Adam…
Adam Small, Ronelda Kamfer Paperback  (1)
R230 R216 Discovery Miles 2 160
What The Moon Gave Her
Christi Steyn Paperback R295 R264 Discovery Miles 2 640
Sea Prayer
Khaled Hosseini Hardcover  (1)
R416 R355 Discovery Miles 3 550
Seasons Come To Pass - A Poetry…
H. Moffett Paperback  (5)
R457 Discovery Miles 4 570

See more

Partners