Old Horse, What Is to Be Done?

by Stephen Kuusisto

Overview

Poetry. "Who in the world of poetry is like Stephen Kuusisto? I want to give you lines like 'pale geographies of the heart,' or 'I love the Jesus who lets me stay blind,' unforgettable words, but no one moment conveys the beauty and austere brilliance of these poems. These are so finely wrought they feel like precious coins in the hand, coins that have been unearthed as much as made. Horses, ravens, dogs haunt these poems, but so do Einstein, Kierkegaard, God. And many others, but above all, we follow Kuusisto, guide who is 'half soul, half body.' These poems announce themselves as perfectly right and necessary, yet like nothing you've seen before."—Susanne Paola Antonetta

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732901261
Publisher:	Tiger Bark Press
Publication date:	11/23/2020
Pages:	98
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Stephen Kuusisto, who has been blind since birth, is the author of a new book, OLD HORSE. WHAT IS TO BE DONE? (Tiger Bark Press, 2020); Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening and the acclaimed memoir Planet of the Blind, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He has also published ONLY BREAD, ONLY LIGHT (2000) and LETTERS TO BORGES (2013) collections of poems from Copper Canyon Press. Recognized by the New York Times as "a powerful writer with a musical ear for language and a gift for emotional candor," Steve has made numerous appearances on programs including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline NBC, National Public Radio and the BBC. A graduate of the Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa, and a Fulbright Scholar, Steve holds the position of director of the Renee Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University. He speaks widely on diversity, disability, education, and public policy. His essays and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary magazines including Harper's; The New York Times Magazine; Poetry; and Partisan Review.

Table of Contents

1

You'll Have to Take My Word 11

Thinking of Ted Berrigan 12

The Writing Prompt 13

Remembering Donald Justice 15

1919 16

Fall Arrives in the Finger Lakes 17

Notes on a Christmas Morning 19

A Hand 21

2

The Half-Finished Garden 25

It Is Early or Late for Different People 26

Aubade 28

Sand 29

Carnivale 30

Praxis: Deliberate Beauty 33

Autumn, or Rain 39

Notebook, October 2017 41

A Vague Love for Parsifal 45

Notebook Elegy for Pentti Saarikoksi 49

Travelogue 50

Horse, Man, Helsinki 51

A Brief Poem Written at the End of a Bitter Year 52

Homage to James Tate 53

God at Home 54

Micro Memoir 68 55

Conditions 56

The Uproar of Living by Day… 57

Counting on My Fingers 58

3

Elegy 61

Old Horse, What Is to Be Done? 62

Frost on Windowpanes 63

Larch, I'm Going Sad Like a Toy… 64

Meadow 65

Per Caputque Pedesqu… 66

Underneath the Willow 67

Blind, I Bought a Horse 68

Hymn 69

Late in the Day 70

Like a Falling Leaf 71

At the Arts Center 72

Rain in a Tin Dish 73

Late 74

Ode 75

Alone in Any City 76

Dear Jarkko 77

Emergent God 78

A Brief Essay on Romanticism 79

After So Much is Said 80

Lorca 81

To a Blind Man Selling Pencils 82

Questions to Answers 83

Raven, Helsinki Harbor 84

Leafage 85

Ode to the Future Perfect 87

Empty Paths 88

Ripeness is All 90

Acknowledgements 93

About the Author 95

Colophon 97