Hazmat by J D Mcclatchy
HAZMAT, meaning "hazardous material," is an abbreviation familiar from signs at the entrances to long dark tunnels or on the sides of suspicious containers. Here, in a series of stunning poems, J. D. McClatchy examines the first hazmat we all encounter: our own bodies. The virtuosic "Tattoos" meditates on why we decorate the body's surface, while other poems plunge daringly inward, capturing the way in which everything that makes us human-desire and decay, need and curiosity, the jarring sense of loss and mortality-hovers in the flesh. In the midst of it all is the heart, its treacheries, its gnawing grievances, its boundless capacities.With their stark titles ("Cancer," "Feces," "Jihad"), McClatchy's poems work dazzling variations on this book's theme: how we live with the fact that we will die. Crowned by the twenty-part sequence "Motets," which deals out an exquisite hand of emotional crises, this collection brings us a sumptuous weave of impassioned thought and clear-sighted feeling. Holding up a powerful poetic mirror, McClatchy shows us our very selves in a chilling series of images: the melodrama of the body being played out, as it must be, in the theater of the spirit.
Scenes from Another Life (1981), Stars Prominent (1986), and The Rest of the Road (1990) are J.D.McClatchy's previous poetry collections. White Paper (1989) and Twenty Questions (1998) are collections of his literary articles. He has edited several publications, the most recent of which is The Vintage Book of Modern Poetry (1996). He's written four opera libretti, the most recent of which was Emmeline for Tobias Picker, which the Santa Fe Opera commissioned. He is Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and editor of The Yale Review since 1991.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780375709913 |
| ISBN 10 | 0375709916 |
| Title | Hazmat |
| Author | J D Mcclatchy |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Year published | 2004-04-06 |
| Number of pages | 96 |
| Prizes | Winner of Lambda Literary Award 2002 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |