Odd Mercy

by Gerald Stern

Overview

"For over two decades, no one has equaled Stern's compassionate, surreal parables about the burden of and the exaltation at being alive."—Library Journal

The centerpiece of Gerald Stern's ninth collection is a long poem titled "Hot Dog," named for a beautiful street woman who lives in and around Tompkins Square Park. Other characters in this poem are St. Augustine, Walt Whitman, Noah, Gerald Stern himself, and a ninety-year-old black preacher from the Midwest. In "Hot Dog," and throughout, Stern wrestles with the issues—hope, memory, faith—that have always occupied him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393316308
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/17/1997
Pages:	122
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Gerald Stern (1925—2022), the author of nineteen volumes of poetry, was awarded the National Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Wallace Stevens Award, among many other honors.

Editorial Reviews

Stern's inner world is so capacious that the poems that pour forth from it are not easily categorized. These new pieces, which are centered primarily in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, are built of meditation, narration and a pastoral lyricism that turns Gotham into a garden. Stern's visions take shape in the form of bluebirds and sunflowers, sofas and Hondas. And ghosts. Ancestors and Judaic brethren invoke a heritage of suffering throughout, yielding an exquisite melancholy. Also present is Walt Whitman, a secular-even pagan-presence whose vigorous influence is keenly felt as Stern nurtures bucolic verse, sometimes writing from a bug or a bird's eye view. Among this selection's opening salvo of 22 poems, most notable is ``Ida,'' a stunning Kaddish for his mother. The book's second half is comprised of a long poem in 17 sections. Titled ``Hot Dog,'' the street name of a homeless woman whom Stern watches over, the work is an encyclopedic rumination on body and spirit. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"For two decades, no one has equaled [Stern's] compassionate, surreal parables" (Odd Mercy, LJ 11/15/96).

Library Journal

Contains 228 biographies of important contemporary and historical figures in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Entries include b&w photos and are arranged alphabetically. Includes historical introductions to each of the countries. This work is the third volume in a projected 20-volume encyclopedia of African biographies, originally conceived in 1909 by W.E.B. Du Bois. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews