" . . . deeply felt, humanistic touch." -Johanna Shapiro, PhD, Professor of Family Medicine and Director of the Program in Medical
Humanities and Arts, University of California Irvine, School of Medicine"In The Natural Order of Things, poet and physician Richard Donze explores the human life cycle and the mysterious connections that bind us to the past and to each other. Anchored in "I carry your name," an extended meditation on a brother who died just after Richard was born, and whose name became the poet's middle name, these poems bear compassionate witness to the stages of life-the joy and promise at the beginning, and the suffering, disability, decline and renewed promise at the end. Donze's style-brilliant word play, enjambment, colloquial language, lack of punctuation-energizes the poems and will delight the reader. Consider brief descriptions like "ventricular sputter," "fifteen brown shades earth," and "little star pieces fall from the sky." Consider, too, this passage about a man with Parkinson's disease, But no help yet from / dope, dope-a-dope / I mean I mean. A fine poet, a strong, compassionate, and hopeful voice!" -Jack Coulehan, author of The Talking Cure: New and Selected Poems
"Richard Donze's collection, The Natural Order of Things, certainly lives up to its title: the poems are full of nature and other things, and the poet orders the words in interesting and engaging ways. As a physician, he has learned well how to find answers and context, even in difficult situations, and he brings that same clear-sightedness to his poetry. And of course some wordplay as well. Donze will present the truth - but perhaps, to quote from one of his poems, an occasional "beautiful lie." The collection's first poem begins: "I am trying to imagine," which could indeed apply to the poet's entire endeavor. Donze's subjects range widely, from family matters - love, births, and deaths - to nature, to hospital settings, where the poet emphasizes the humanity of his patients, and there's even a salute to his faithful umbilicus. Some of his patients, he writes, are "living scan to scan," but then so are we all. Life, as he puts it, is a "scramble for meaning," as is poetry. The Natural Order of Things includes growing and maturing and dying,
and Donze's poem about picking strawberries ends with evocative conciseness reminiscent of ancient Chinese poetry: 'short life / pick ripe / eat now' In short: read now." -John Shea, Former editor, PENN Medicine magazine and author of Tales from Webster's" . . . deeply felt, humanistic touch." -Johanna Shapiro, PhD, Professor of Family Medicine and Director of the Program in Medical
Humanities and Arts, University of California Irvine, School of Medicine"In The Natural Order of Things, poet and physician Richard Donze explores the human life cycle and the mysterious connections that bind us to the past and to each other. Anchored in "I carry your name," an extended meditation on a brother who died just after Richard was born, and whose name became the poet's middle name, these poems bear compassionate witness to the stages of life-the joy and promise at the beginning, and the suffering, disability, decline and renewed promise at the end. Donze's style-brilliant word play, enjambment, colloquial language, lack of punctuation-energizes the poems and will delight the reader. Consider brief descriptions like "ventricular sputter," "fifteen brown shades earth," and "little star pieces fall from the sky." Consider, too, this passage about a man with Parkinson's disease, But no help yet from / dope, dope-a-dope / I mean I mean. A fine poet, a strong, compassionate, and hopeful voice!" -Jack Coulehan, author of The Talking Cure: New and Selected Poems
"Richard Donze's collection, The Natural Order of Things, certainly lives up to its title: the poems are full of nature and other things, and the poet orders the words in interesting and engaging ways. As a physician, he has learned well how to find answers and context, even in difficult situations, and he brings that same clear-sightedness to his poetry. And of course some wordplay as well. Donze will present the truth - but perhaps, to quote from one of his poems, an occasional "beautiful lie." The collection's first poem begins: "I am trying to imagine," which could indeed apply to the poet's entire endeavor. Donze's subjects range widely, from family matters - love, births, and deaths - to nature, to hospital settings, where the poet emphasizes the humanity of his patients, and there's even a salute to his faithful umbilicus. Some of his patients, he writes, are "living scan to scan," but then so are we all. Life, as he puts it, is a "scramble for meaning," as is poetry. The Natural Order of Things includes growing and maturing and dying,
and Donze's poem about picking strawberries ends with evocative conciseness reminiscent of ancient Chinese poetry: 'short life / pick ripe / eat now' In short: read now." -John Shea, Former editor, PENN Medicine magazine and author of Tales from Webster'sThe Natural Order of Things
138The Natural Order of Things
138Paperback
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781646626724 |
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Publisher: | Finishing Line Press |
Publication date: | 11/19/2021 |
Pages: | 138 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.32(d) |