Middle Earth (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780374529284)

Time was plunging forward,
like dolphins scissoring open water or like me,
following Jenny's flippers down to see the coral reef,
where the color of sand, sea and sky merged,
and it was as if that was all God wanted:
not a wife, a house or a position,
but a self, like a needle, pushing in a vein.
-from Olympia

In his fifth collection of verse, Henri Cole's melodious lines are written in an open style that is both erotic and visionary. Few poets so thrillingly portray the physical world, or man's creaturely self, or the cycling strain of desire and self-reproach. Few poets so movingly evoke the human quest of a man alone, trying --to say something true that has body, because it is proof of his existence.. . Middle Earth is a revelatory collection, the finest work yet from an author of poems that are . . .marvels-unbuttoned, riveting, dramatic-burned into being-- (Tina Barr, Boston Review).

Author: Henri Cole
ISBN-10: 0374529280
ISBN-13: 9780374529284
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
Language: English
Published: 04/14/2004
Pages: 80
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.24lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.30w x 0.26d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 05/09/2004 pg. 24