Like an underground river, the astonishing poems of Joseph Ceravolo have nurtured American poetry for fifty years, a presence deeply felt but largely invisible. Collected Poems offers the first full portrait of Ceravolo's aesthetic trajectory, bringing to light the highly original voice that was operating at an increasing remove from the currents of the time. From a poetics associated with Frank O'Hara and John Ashbery to an ever more contemplative, deeply visionary poetics similar in sensibility to Zen and Dante, William Blake and St. John of the Cross, this collection shows how Ceravolo's poetry takes on a direct, quiet lyricism: intensely dedicated to the natural and spiritual life of the individual. As Ron Silliman tes, Ceravolo's later work reveals him to be one of the most emotionally open, vulnerable and self-kwing poets of his generation. Many new pieces, including the masterful long poem The Hellgate, are published here for the first time. This volume is a landmark edition for American poetry, and includes an introduction by David Lehman.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Wesleyan University Press, University Press of New England
ISBN-10
0819575267
ISBN-13
9780819575265
eBay Product ID (ePID)
209136023
Product Key Features
Author
Joseph Ceravolo
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Topic
Poetry Texts & Poetry Anthologies
Additional Product Features
Place of Publication
Hanover
Edited by
Parker Smathers, Rosemary Ceravolo
Content Note
6 Illus.
Author Biography
JOSEPH CERAVOLO (1934-1988) was a poet and civil engineer who was born in Astoria, Queens, and lived in New Jersey. He was the author of six books of poetry and won the first Frank O'Hara Award. ROSEMARY CERAVOLO is an artist, novelist, and art critic. She lives in Bloomfield, New Jersey. PARKER SMATHERS is a poet and editor at Wesleyan University Press. DAVID LEHMAN is a poet and the series editor for The Best American Poetry series. He teaches at The New School.