Blizzard of One : Poems

Rating:
Summary: Quite, quite fine
Review: Is Strand John Donne? Hardly. Is he Yeats? Alas, no. But he may be among the very best of living poets, and this has several poems worth re-reading.

I look for more from him of the caliber of "Keeping Things Whole." Until then, this volume is a good consolation.

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeously dressed corpse
Review: Strand is undoubtedly the most overrated poet in the United States. Every five years or so he puts out a slim volume that reads like a fairly good imitation of Strand, and this one is no exception, filled with the usual icy facsimiles of emotion--and featuring the embarrassing "Delirium Waltz" in which he drops, with langorous obsequiousness, the names of a number of his wellknown friends. If you're interested in Strand, read his earlier books, particularly the magnificent "Story of Our Lives."This one is a waste of fifteen dollars. An elegantly dressed corpse is still a corpse.

Rating:
Summary: Dally the doom
Review: While Mark Strand is not my favorite poet, I can still see and appreciate his brilliance. The only thing about his poetry of which I can truly complain is that it does not make good reading while you are depressed. That said, if one reads and re-reads "Blizzard of One" in a more intellectual Stevens-esque mood, one must admit themself to be in the presence of a master. Strand's lines are inventive and extremely well-honed, and his work suggests the depth and complexity of a poet of the highest, or almost-highest, caliber.

Not too many people notice Strand's sense of humor, though. He read at my college in the fall of 1999 on the same night as (are you ready for this?) Donald Justice and Derek Walcott. Reading last, after Walcott read a selection from the manuscript of "Tiepolo's Hound," Strand got up and started making everyone laugh with what he read. Most of what he read was from "Blizzard of One," too. "Some Last Words" is probably the poem in this collection which best embodies that side of Strand.

I reccomend this book for anyone who loves poetry. Just be in the right mood when you read it.