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American Spirituals
Jeffrey Greene; Carolyn Kizer, fwd.
Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize
Northeastern University Press
University Press of New England
1998 • 72 pp. 6 x 8 1/4"
Poetry
$15.95 Paper, 1-55553-378-7
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Winner of the Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize
"Throughout the many poems about New Haven, his home, Greene contrasts the ordinary or sinister life of the city with the rarefied atmosphere of the university, to telling effect. . . His poetry is suffused with what used to be called 'social conscience.' Although Wallace Stevens seems to be his master, I am reminded of the poems of James Wright, but without a trace of sentimentality. And there is something about Greene's tone of voice -- almost casual, yet informed by the closest kind of observation. This is lovely writing, precise observation, tender yet realistic. I admire these poems and recommend them." -- from the Foreword
From the Book:
The Angels
When a Latin King falls, the angels
spraypaint his name on the buildings of Fair Haven.
The city would rather they plant a tree
with the name on a brass plate,
but it's not easy negotiating with angels.
They've gone to parks to pull down hoops
or they doze at Union Station, and some
are even driving through the Hill section,
behind their tinted windows.
It's not easy to track them down --
every place and no place.
They leave empty vials under trees.
There are many angels in New Haven,
and a heaven in each one.
Winner of the 1998 Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize
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Jeffrey Greene grew up in Wilton, Connecticut, and was educated at Goddard College (B.A.), the University of Iowa (M.F.A.), and the University of Houston (Ph.D.). His first book of poems, To the Left of the Worshiper, was published in 1991. He is a winner of the Discovery/The Nation Award and the Randall Jarrell Prize. His poems have appeared in the New Yorker, Poetry, Parnassus, Boulevard, Ploughshares, and many other journals and anthologies. He teaches part of the year at the University of New Haven, and lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and Paris. Carolyn Kizer was founding editor of Poetry Northwest. She has written numerous volumes of poetry, including Ungrateful Garden, Knock Upon Silence, Harping On: Poems 1985-1995, and Yin, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Sonoma, California.
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