Jarman, Mark

How Much Earth: An Anthology of Fresno Poets (California Poetry Series, V. 8)

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How Much Earth: An Anthology of Fresno Poets (California Poetry Series, V. 8)

Manufacturer: Heyday Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

In 1958, Philip Levine arrived at what is now known as California State University, Fresno, fresh from his studies with Yvor Winters at Stanford, and set out to build a poetry curriculum. Soon, he invited other talented poets to join him. What emerged over the next forty years became one of the most important regional American poetry movements of the second half of the twentieth century. Some of these writers were born or grew up in Fresno or the surrounding communities in the Central Valley. Some came to Fresno to study. Some were not students at all, but poets who were caught up in the excitement that spilled over to the community at large. Many have gone on to careers as poets, teachers, and editors influential in contemporary poetry.

_How Much Earth_ is a definitive collection of the best of the "Fresno School." Over fifty poets are represented, among them Levine, Larry Levis, Gary Soto, David St. John, Juan Felipe Herrera, Luis Omar Salinas, Peter Everwine, Lawson Fusao Inada, Dixie Salazar, and Corinne Hales. Author photos and statements on how Fresno influenced them are included. The introduction explores the impact of Levine's influence on the American poetry scene far beyond the Central Valley, providing concise historical context.

Characterized by an observant tone—clear-eyed, pragmatic—the poems here are informed by the scene and excitement generated by Levine, his colleagues and visiting poets, and the fields and orchards surrounding Fresno. _How Much Earth_ is a crucial record of this major American literary movement.

Questions for Ecclesiastes
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I wanted to love this collection but ...

Grrreat!

Explorations of Faith

Challenging us to think

it's a nice little collection

Questions for Ecclesiastes
Mark Jarman
Manufacturer: Story Line Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1885266413

Amazon.com

The soul of Questions for Ecclesiastes, winner of the 1998 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, lies in a sequence of poems whose title, "Unholy Sonnets," immediately recalls the "Holy Sonnets" of John Donne. Instead of adopting Donne's tone of vulnerable desperation, however, Jarman questions the concept of divinity with a voice familiar to readers of contemporary poetry: sincere, restrained, and polite, yet not unaware of the winding rhetoric of irony. Jarman adds a willingness to engage in abstract thought at the risk of losing emotional edge, an important risk that few poets take. The "Unholy Sonnets" weave stories in the short, sharp narrative style of Edward Arlington Robinson, who provides a clear model for much of Jarman's work--which is no insult to Jarman. The achievements of Robinson, overshadowed in this century by more Continental-leaning modernists, are being increasingly recognized and admired, thanks in part to Jarman's championing of "new formalism" in his anthology Rebel Angels. Jarman echoes Robinson's "Eros Turranos" in the intense compression of syntax and story in Jarman's seven-chambered poem "The Past from the Air," which relates the decades-long decay of a family in a variety of classical rhyme schemes: <blockquote> She has no reason to remember this
Declining beachtown where she was not young
With any sort of love or happiness
Or now, to see it renovated, sprung
To a new level of well-being, grow
Nostalgic as her son does. Home
Is nothing to be sick for, when you know
It is an idea sculpted out of foam.
</blockquote> This poem showcases the pleasures of Mark Jarman's clear lines and metaphors, his workmanlike meter, his calm reasonings, the slow unfolding of a longish poem. These are old-fashioned pleasures; he is not an old-fashioned poet, but one who has considered at length Ecclesiastes's saw about there being nothing new under the sun. The title poem tells the story, in questions, of the narrator's minister father visiting a teenage suicide's family. The questioning acts like a centrifuge that spins a disturbing gravity around the central story, building to one paraphrase of the book's central query: "And what if one with only a casual connection to the tragedy remembers a man, younger than I am today, going out after dinner and returning, then sitting in the living room, drinking a cup of tea, slowly finding the strength to say he had visited these grieving strangers and spent some time with them?" Poetry is, for Jarman, more an act of questioning than an act of answering, though there is room for a few speculative answers. In the parable of "Unholy Sonnet 12," a farmer more pious than Job cries, "Why?" to God when a flood sweeps his farm away: "And God grumped from his rain cloud, 'I can't say. / Just something about you pisses me off.'" With Questions for Ecclesiastes, Jarman joins the small congregation of poets, with George Herbert at the pulpit, who perceive a relationship between poetic form and the spiritual form of being. --Edward Skoog

Book Description

Winner--1998 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize Finalist--1997 National Book Critics Circle Award "In Questions for Ecclesiastes, Mark Jarman takes on the idea of holiness in an unholy world, of spiritual realities in secular America... His poems made me think of altars, the kind we sometimes make unconsciously on a side-table or dresser where we deposit sea shells, pebbles, lost buttons, and other interesting finds, arranging them just so, as if to make an offering to an unknown god."-Charles Simic, Judge, The Academy of American Poets "A devout and learned exploration of the absence and silence of God."-The Philadelphia Inquirer "In this deeply impressive collection, Jarman is concerned with God, His grace, and humans' relations with Him... In 20 'Unholy Sonnets,' he takes up matters of theology directly and so appositely for these times that some of them may become pulpit as well as anthology staples."-Ray Olson, Booklist "[An] A+ level candidate for glory, so peculiar in the excellence and pleasure it offers as to baffle anyone in the business of awarding laurels."-The Hudson Review "Inverting Donne's 'Holy Sonnets' in his ironic 20-poem 'Unholy Sonnets' sequence, Jarman's tone is discursive instead of devotional, comic instead of firm. The sonnets...explore faith with a sense of inevitability. Yet they are less about God than about our relationship to God and our inability to understand God's judgement."-The Boston Book Review "Memorable for its section 'Unholy Sonnets'...Questions for Ecclesiastes ultimately captures a poet's challenge to God: Are you there, or aren't you?"-Seattle Weekly

Customer Reviews:

I wanted to love this collection but ..........2002-07-28

....I was disappointed. The "Unholy Sonnets" are excellent, quiet and low-keyed explorations of God and the human relationship to God. The poet rightly trusts his voice and skill. There are wonderful images that Jarman makes work well: " A useful God will roost in a bird-box, / Wedge-head thrust out, red-feathered in the sun." As a member of the new formalism school of poetry, Jarman succeeds in using form in a way that seems natural not forced. In an odd way, his skill with forms reminds me of Robert Frost.

Jarman is not limited by form - the title poem is a prose poem exploring the proper roles of parents and a stranger (preacher)sent to comfort them after their teenage daughter committed suicide. What would happen if the preacher "comforted" them with the theology of Ecclesiastes? Like the sonnets, this is an honest exploration of the tensions of faith in the modern world.

Unfortunately, while most of the remainder of the book shows the same skill, honesty and faith of these poems, the poems never "speak" to me - there is a formal distance in the writing that never pulls me into the world of the poetry nor resonates with my own world of humanity, poetry and faith. I was uninvolced even by beautiful poetry such as the fourth section of "The Past From the Air" which includes inspired lines: "And what God sees, if God sees anything, / Looks like the crawling colors on a bubble / ... / He sees a woman asking him to read / Her mind. He pities her. He cannot read."

Grrreat!.......2002-04-29

I am a huge fan of Mark Jarman's work; and this book is incredible. I like the new and fresh ideas on how he sees God. He came to read at SMSU, and when he read the poem "Ground Swell" it was thrilling, b/c it's my favorite poem. Go get this book if you want a good read.

Explorations of Faith.......2002-03-28

These are wonderful poems, which ask questions of God, questions about faith, questions about the workings of grace and what it means to be holy. Jarman manages to probe the paradoxes of faith in a deep but respectful way, without veering into either hostility, on the one hand, or an easy piety on the other. "Tranfiguration" is a superb exploration of what it means for Christ -- for anyone -- to be subject to the law and to suffering, and how one can be transfigured by resistance to that fate. "Questions for Ecclesiastes" is a devastating comment on how little consolation is provided by the Bible's "wisdom" in the face of real tragedy, in this case the suicide of a young girl. "And God . . . who could have shared what he knew with people who needed urgently to hear it, God kept a secret." Jarman uses the English language beautifully, incorporating the rhythms and cadences of the King James even when not overtly using the language. These are poems to savor and come back to again and again.

Challenging us to think.......2000-11-11

Of the books of poems that I own, this is my favourite. Jarman's writing is clear, powerful and spiritual. He is not afraid to ask questions (nor to attempt to provide an answer and admit that it is inadequate). My own occupation makes the title poem (dealing with the suicide of a 14 year old girl and our response to it) particularly poignant. If you think about relationships, including a relationship with God, these poems are well worth reading.

it's a nice little collection.......2000-11-10

this collection is a nice little collection of poems, but outside of the 20 unholy sonnets, nothing great. still, it's a nice collection from a contemporary poet.

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A Passionate New Collection
Swimming up to the surface...
Jarman should win the Pulitzer Prize

To the Green Man: Poems
Mark Jarman
Manufacturer: Sarabande Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This collection leaps into the dangerous currents where poetry and reli-gion meet, and enlivens the lexicon of traditional American Christian belief by testing its doctrines and language against contemporary experience.

"Beyond the wonderful music of his lines . . . , what makes To the Green Man such an important and memor-able book is its enactment of a spiritual struggle to be at once at home in the world and astonished by it."-Alan Shapiro

Mark Jarman is a professor of English at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. His book The Black Riviera won the Poets' Prize, and Questions for Ecclesiastes was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize.

Customer Reviews:

A Passionate New Collection.......2004-07-17

Mark Jarman's new collection picks up where "Unholy Sonnets" left off in exploring and questioning the Christian faith, simultaneously rejecting dogmatic doctrine and upholding orthodoxy. "To the Green Man" takes art (specifically paintings) as its overall subject, including poems that explore not only how painting interpret scripture, but also how certain paintings retell biblical stories. The book also includes some narrative excursions, as well, including a wonderful piece about the poet's grandfather, Ray.

Buy this today and keep a look out for Jarman's new collection of prose poems.

Swimming up to the surface..........2004-06-25

I agree with your first reviewer. Three years ago I lost my aunt and uncle on a pleasure cruise. We were extremely close, and I plunged into a terrible grieving cycle. A friend gave me a copy of Mark Jarman's Questions for Ecclesiastes and a copy of his Unholy Sonnets. Those poems, more than anything else in my life, repaired my life. If it's possible, this new book is even wiser, gentler, better--if that's possible.

Jarman should win the Pulitzer Prize.......2004-06-24

Mark Jarman's new book is a brilliant continuation of the themes for which he is so admired. Is there a poet writing today with a more keenly developed, complex spirituality? These are poems our culture needs, perhaps now more than ever. They are so readable, so thought provoking, so memorable. Treat yourself and your friends to this volume.

Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism

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Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism

Manufacturer: Story Line Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Contributors include: Elizabeth Alexander Julia Alvarez Bruce Bawer Rafael Campo Thomas M. Disch Frederick Feirstein Dana Gioia Emily Grosholz Robert Samuel Gwynn Marilyn Hacker Rachel Hadas Andrew Hudgins Paul Lake Sydney Lea Brad Leithauser Phillis Levin Charles Martin Marilyn Nelson Molly Peacock Wyatt Prunty Mary Jo Salter Timothy Reid Steele Frederick Turner Rachel Wetzsteon Greg Williamson

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Unholy and Holy
Poems that can save lives
Mostly Disappointing
a new type of devotional poetry
Poetry in celebration of prayer, gratitude, suffering & joy.

Unholy Sonnets
Mark Jarman
Manufacturer: Story Line Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

Unholy and Holy.......2003-04-14

Paradoxically, "Unholy Sonnets" are at once Christian-based relgious poems that challenge conventional christianity. A gifted poet, Jarman balances the hum-drum and the monotony of every-day life against the transcendence of Christianity. These poems present the paradoxes of Christianity also, the least of which being how one can both worship Jesus Christ and cast him in human form.

The sonnet form is perfectly suited for this investigation, as it, like conventional Christianity, is bound by rules and conventions. Jarman, however, moves fluidly in the framework of the sonnet form, railing against at times and settling into it comfortable at other times.

"Unholy Sonnets" bypasses "Questions for Ecclesiastes" by leaps and bounds. Those who miss the beauty of these poems simply don't know how to read poetry. There are no forced rhymes here. There are no forced themes here. These poems break with the standard workshop-model tripe that pollutes today's literary magazines. Mark Jarman may very well be this century's answer to George Herbert or John Donne.

Poems that can save lives.......2002-09-20

Spiritually powerful poems that are so timely and unforgettable! Mark Jarman us a lyric genius and a great storyteller. His meditations reflect and enrich my own struggles with the meaning of God and life. This and his previous, award-winning collection, QUESTIONS FOR ECCLESIASTES, contain some of the most important poetry written in our lifetime. A must read, over and over again.

Mostly Disappointing.......2002-03-28

I loved Jarman's previous book, "Questions for Ecclesiastes," so I was looking forward to this one. Although many people seem to be wildly impressed by the fact that Jarman is writing sonnets, it seemed to me that the form often detracted from the work, rather than adding to it. Forced rhymes and stilted rhythms ruined more than one of these sonnets for me, and the relatively abbreviated form often seemed to cut short complex thoughts and ideas before Jarman had any real chance to explore them. The poems that work best for me are the longer ones, usually composed of multiple stanzas in sonnet form. Here, given enough space to let his thoughts breathe, Jarman not only has more to say, he also handles the form itself much more fluidly and flexibly. "The Word 'Answer'" and "The World" are the long poems at the beginning and end of the book, and both are superb reflections on one's relationship to God and to grace. The final sestet of "The Word 'Answer'" shows what Jarman is capable of when he doesn't get too caught up in the form:

God, I am thinking of you now as snow,
Descending like the answer to a prayer,
This prayer that you will be made visible,
Drifting and deepening, a dazzling, slow
Acknowledgment, out of the freezing air,
As dangerous as it is beautiful.

The rhymes are there, but they don't get in the way of the imagery, and the image here picks up on the previous imagery and language and thoughts of this poem. What's good in this book is enough to make it worthwhile, but don't expect every page to take your breath away.

a new type of devotional poetry.......2000-10-19

Jarman's Unholy Sonnets is a sequence of sonnets written to follow his previous collection, Questions for Ecclesiastes. Almost every type of sonnet is found in this collection. The sonnets are a form of devotional poetry, unlike what has been written before, such as Donne's sonnets, which is why Jarman wrote Questions for Ecclesiastes and Unholy Sonnets, as a response to Donne. Jarman's sonnets are a different type of devotional poetry. He doesn't just worship God, but asks questions about the nature of God and spirituality, thus the title unholy. One of the things Jarman does in these sonnets is to question God with lines like "Soften the blow, imagined God, and give/Me one good reason for this punishment" from sonnet 3. And sonnet 6 where he questions his relationship with God. And Jarman's poetry continues on this way throughout the entire sequence, fifty sonnets dealing with prayer, judgement, religion, and even science versus religion. Most of the sonnets in the sequence are pretty good, though a few, like sonnet 1, 3, and the prologue sonnet stand out as excellent poems, and there are a few that are truly horrible like 27 and 35 which are unclear and the rhymes are either sound forced or just aren't very good. But the well crafted sonnets outweigh the poorer sonnets.

Poetry in celebration of prayer, gratitude, suffering & joy........2000-08-07

Mark Jarman's poetry collected in Unholy Sonnets explores the
relationship between what the soul desires and what creation allows,
the nature of prayer, incarnation, judgement, and grace, trying to
imagine a God that cares about individual yearning, gratitude,
suffering, and joy. Kenosis: An absence turned to presence is
confusing./Take Mary, who took for a gardener/One that she knew was
dead and in his grave,/One that she then called Master, when he
stood/Before and said, "Mary," and resisted/Her startled,
tender, human wish to touch./We want to fill the emptiness with
meaning./I had a friend whose father died in his armchair./And when my
friend came home, there was a drape/With the body slumped beneath it,
still in the chair./She said, "I knew that must be him. And
yet,/It was a shock to see him sitting there,/So present and not
present, this big man,/Filling his place as much or more than ever.
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One-Man Boat: The George Hitchcock Reader

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Along for the Ride: Some Thoughts on "One-Man Boat"

One-Man Boat: The George Hitchcock Reader
George Hitchcock
Manufacturer: Story Line Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 158654022X

Book Description

Poetry, fiction, and drama by George Hitchcock, a -major American writer/editor of the 20th century.

Foreword by Philip Levine.

Introduction by Robert McDowell.

In 1960 George Hitchcock founded the San Francisco Review. In 1964, he launched Kayak magazine and press. Both established the work and careers of Robert Bly, Raymond Carver, Charles Simic, James Tate, Kathleen Fraser, Anne Sexton, John Haines, W. S. Merwin, Carolyn Kizer, and many others. Hitchcock also authored several books of distinctive, Surrealist poetry, widely produced plays, and fiction. This book includes work from all three genres, and a section on Kayak.

George Hitchcock, at 86, divides his time between Harrisburg, Oregon, and La Paz, Mexico.

Customer Reviews:

Along for the Ride: Some Thoughts on "One-Man Boat".......2003-06-19

If you have seen the silent film, Nanook of the North, you might recall that moment when the protagonist arrives in his splendid kayak (also the name of George Hitchcock's near legendary literary journal from 1964-1984), he gets out of the boat and then, from within the boat emerge his wife, two or three children and possibly a husky or two -- on that my memory is not clear. And Story Line Press' masterful collection (edited by Robert McDowell, Joseph Bednarik, & Mark Jarmon, with introduction by Phil Levine, "One-Man Boat: The George Hitchcock Reader" accomplishes a similar effect -- out of this collection emerges George the poet, the playright, the actor, the editor, the novelist, the short story stylist, the witness before the HUAC, and on the cover, George, the painter. This selection from a significant body of work should serve as ample introduction to the work of a man, extraordinary by anyone's standards. This collection stands as testimony to a life lived in dedication to ideas about art and the full expression of art as a daily enterprise rather than some caged rarefied entity. I would hope this book becomes required reading for any serious student of late 20th century literature from the West Coast. I'll close with a paraphrase of one of my favorite poems, "Lying Now in the New Grass" -- the poem is an invocation of rest -- it is sensual and surreal. In its final image the "plow of night" passes over the world. I can think of no other way to spend a restful afternoon/early evening than to sit quietly with the magic of this book, a cup or glass of a favorite beverage, resting in the kayak of this book, with the capable hands of a master at the oars, be he Nanook, be he George -- don't let anyone fool you, it only looks like a one man boat -- it is filled with multitudes.

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The Secret of Poetry
Mark Jarman
Manufacturer: Story Line Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 158654005X

Book Description

First collection of literary essays by a founder and leading poet-critic of the New Narrative/New Formalist revival. Essays explore the relationship between poetry and religion, the legacies of Wallace Stevens, Robert Frost, E. A. Robinson, Robinson Jeffers, and poetry by contemporaries such as Donald Justice and Jorie Graham.

Mark Jarman's honors for poetry include the Lenore Marshall Prize, the Poets' Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and three NEA fellowships. Co-author of The Reaper Essays and co-editor of Rebel Angels: 25 Poets of the New Formalism, Jarman lives in Nashville and teaches at Vanderbilt University.

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Dancing Nightly in the Tavern
Mark Anthony Jarman
Manufacturer: Brindle & Glass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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what a narrative should be
valuable addition to narrative verse

Iris: A book-length poem
Mark Jarman
Manufacturer: Story Line Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

what a narrative should be.......2005-07-07

In his Reaper Essays Jarman espouses the positive characteristics of the narrative poem, and then in his book-length narrative poem, _Iris_, he puts in practice what he puts forth in theory. He uses long lines--ten feet of iambic pentameter. The story is of a young mother, Iris, and her search for family and for the meaning in the poetry of Robinson Jeffers. Section one is as good as you are going to find in narrative poetry. I will admit that section two is rather weak. But he rises again in section three, wich is rather good, it doesn't rise up to what you find in section one, but then what could, but still, it is quite good. I highly recommend this book as an example of what narrative poetry should be.

valuable addition to narrative verse.......1999-07-22

Though not a fan of New Formalism or any of its subsequent branches, including the New Narrative, I have found Jarman's book-length poem Iris to be captivating and impressive. The book is ultimately a tribute to Robinson Jeffers, but Jarman succeeds in establishing his own narrative style that incorporates deft lyricism and acute observation.

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Ireland's Eye: Travels
Mark Anthony Jarman
Manufacturer: House of Anansi Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

On August 28, 1922, the martyred Irish patriot Michael Collins was buried. Businesses across Dublin closed as thousands came out to pay their respects. On the same day, Michael Lyons, a cooper from the Guinness factory, drowned in Dublin's Royal Canal. This peculiar confluence is Mark Anthony Jarman's starting point for a meditation on the intertwined history of a nation and his family. Jarman's pursuit of the circumstances of his grandfather's drowning leads him through a modern Ireland that teems with ghosts from the past. Thwarted by family gossip, aunts who can't drive a stick shift, cousins more interested in pubs than lore, and his own fascination with the many Irelands that have been, Jarman finds what he's seeking despite, or perhaps because of, the antics and the unreliable histories. What he reconfigures is a revelation, and an enchanting and engrossing read.

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