Firewood and Ashes: New And Selected Poems
Encompassing forms as diverse as the free-verse lyric, the sonnet sequence, the verse letter, and the meditative monologue, this selection from Ben Howard's six previous books demonstrates the breadth of his cultural awareness and the depth of his poetic achievement. Ranging in locale from Eastern Iowa to Western New York to Dublin, Ireland, these present-centered but historically minded poems integrate the conventions of Western verse with the insights of Eastern meditative practice. Ben Howard is a poet, essayist, classical guitarist, and longtime Zen practitioner. These strands of his life are interwoven in his poems, which evince a sensibility keenly aware of impermanence, acutely alert to linguistic subtleties, and deeply attuned to the sonorities of words. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University in New York. "Ben Howard writes a flawless blank verse, which he often hinges onto a narrative structure in an almost novelistic way."—Rain Taxi
1133898152
Firewood and Ashes: New And Selected Poems
Encompassing forms as diverse as the free-verse lyric, the sonnet sequence, the verse letter, and the meditative monologue, this selection from Ben Howard's six previous books demonstrates the breadth of his cultural awareness and the depth of his poetic achievement. Ranging in locale from Eastern Iowa to Western New York to Dublin, Ireland, these present-centered but historically minded poems integrate the conventions of Western verse with the insights of Eastern meditative practice. Ben Howard is a poet, essayist, classical guitarist, and longtime Zen practitioner. These strands of his life are interwoven in his poems, which evince a sensibility keenly aware of impermanence, acutely alert to linguistic subtleties, and deeply attuned to the sonorities of words. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University in New York. "Ben Howard writes a flawless blank verse, which he often hinges onto a narrative structure in an almost novelistic way."—Rain Taxi
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Firewood and Ashes: New And Selected Poems

Firewood and Ashes: New And Selected Poems

by Ben Howard
Firewood and Ashes: New And Selected Poems

Firewood and Ashes: New And Selected Poems

by Ben Howard

Paperback

$14.95 
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Overview

Encompassing forms as diverse as the free-verse lyric, the sonnet sequence, the verse letter, and the meditative monologue, this selection from Ben Howard's six previous books demonstrates the breadth of his cultural awareness and the depth of his poetic achievement. Ranging in locale from Eastern Iowa to Western New York to Dublin, Ireland, these present-centered but historically minded poems integrate the conventions of Western verse with the insights of Eastern meditative practice. Ben Howard is a poet, essayist, classical guitarist, and longtime Zen practitioner. These strands of his life are interwoven in his poems, which evince a sensibility keenly aware of impermanence, acutely alert to linguistic subtleties, and deeply attuned to the sonorities of words. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University in New York. "Ben Howard writes a flawless blank verse, which he often hinges onto a narrative structure in an almost novelistic way."—Rain Taxi

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781910669105
Publisher: Salmon Poetry
Publication date: 09/29/2015
Pages: 264
Product dimensions: 5.30(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

New Poems

January First 13

Early Retirement 14

Call Me, Ishmael 15

Adagio 17

Firewood and Ashes 18

Signals 21

My First Taste of Sherry 22

Telefón Booth, Co. Cavan, 1985 23

Cloon 24

Groundhog Day 25

The Nature of Desire 26

Buson's Butterfly 27

Ugetsu 28

Magnitude 29

Darkness and Light 30

Coin of the Realm 31

Farewell to a Journal 32

Flow 33

Outpatient 34

While Waiting for the Doctor 35

Equanimity 35

Farewells 36

Maturity: A Work in Progress 39

What is This? 42

Winter and Summer 44

For Now 45

Morning Walk 46

Father of Waters (1979)

Noon 49

The Granite 50

Wild Turkey in the Rain 51

The Shale 52

Redwood 53

Lynx 55

Penelope 56

Break 57

Refuge 58

The Boar 59

Seclusion 60

In December 61

The Diver 62

Father of Waters 63

Winter Report 67

Northern Interior (1986)

Sluice 71

Fado 72

Brink 73

Figures 74

Cartographies 75

Vocation 76

Intimations 77

Cause Unknown 78

R.S.V.P 79

Criminal 80

The Woodsplitter 81

Migration 82

4 P.M. 83

Clarities 84

Letter from Iowa 85

Northern Interior 87

Two Deer 89

Span 91

Lenten Anniversaries (1990)

Monaghan Quartet 95

Small World 98

Old Men of Monaghan 99

Dublin in July 100

In Irishtown 101

Ogham 102

Ante 103

Mississippi Snappers 104

Colloquy 105

Near the Solstice 106

Lament for the Holy Places 107

Fair Exchange 108

Circlings 109

Swarming 110

Sabula 111

Fiat Lux 112

For the Calvinists 113

Losing Ground 114

Reclamation 115

MacNeice at Ithaca, 1940 116

1985 117

Because You Asked for a Bedtime Story 118

November 119

Lute Music 120

In the Regions of Belief 123

Lenten Anniversaries 124

On Reading Some of My Poems 129

Midcentury (1997)

I The Word from Dublin, 1944 133

I "I can't begin to say…" 133

II "The heart has many corners…" 134

V "Let me define…" 135

VI "Call it the light…" 136

II Stone on Stone 139

I "I wonder…" 139

II "How did it happen…" 140

IV "Arid now a strangeness…" 141

V "There is a bitter…" 142

III The Mother Tongue 143

I "With nor a word…" 143

II "What is a mother tongue…" 144

IV "Mother was not…" 146

V "O holy longing…" 148

IV Spitting Forgiven 150

I "Having a staunch affection…" 150

III "What is the name…" 152

IV "My father held his own…" 153

VI "Something possessed me…" 155

V The Center of Attention 157

I "Across the water…" 157

II "Where did it begin…" 158

IV "A lot of snash and blathers…" 161

VI Across the Water 163

III "Weigh your words…" 163

IV "How well the bandsmen…" 165

V "Thy will he done…" 166

Dark Pool (2004)

Sentence 171

Dark Pool 172

Leavings 181

Holy Water 182

Fidelities 183

Elegy 185

The Growing Poem 186

Perennials 187

Currencies 188

The Swinging Door 189

Forecast 191

Lincoln's Hands 192

A Given Name 193

Greta 195

A Winter Fire 196

Winter Night 198

Come and See 199

Prose Should Be Transparent 200

A Discipline 201

Habits 202

Necessities 203

Westward 204

Heartwood 205

The Holy Alls 206

I "How did it happen…" 206

II "No silence ever came…" 208

V "Hear it as an undulant courante…" 210

Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt (2009)

The Glad Creators 215

Dublin in July 220

Beyond My Ken 223

A Wish for My Sixties 224

We Must Labor to Be Beautiful 225

Leaving Tralee 226

Original Face 227

Prune Kringle 229

The Little Drummer Boy Considers a Sabbatical 230

33 RPM 231

Leaf, Sunlight, Asphalt 232

Western New York, 2008 233

Irondequoit, Oswego, Canisteo 234

A Bow 235

One Time, One Meeting 236

"How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?" 237

At Notre Dame 238

Expecting Nothing 239

Right Livelihood 242

Not Yet 246

Uncollected Poems

Ubi Caritas 249

The High Studio at Yaddo 252

Intrusion 253

Morning in Beara 254

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