Product Description
poetry, tr Denise Levertov ... Read more

Product Description
Pitzer College, Claremont, California, is the site of the historic Grove House built in 1902 and moved to the college's campus in the 1970s. Within Grove House is the Bert Meyers Poetry Room, named in honor of the author of this collection and former teacher at Pitzer.

Bert Meyers wrote these poems between 1947 and 1979. Prior to his death at the age of fifty-one, Meyers determined what he considered his best work; following his death Meyers's widow and son added to the collection, all of which now appears in In a Dybbuk's Raincoat, introducing a new generation to Bert Meyers's poetry and songs.

Morten Marcus, friend of Bert Meyers, was asked by Meyers's widow to work with her and Meyers's son, Daniel, to get In a Dybbuk's Raincoat into print.

"There are terrific things here: prose pieces entirely new to me, pungent paragraphs about Paris, lively comments on poetry, and several naughty words about Yeats. Once in a while, one encounters old classics, such as 'Picture Framing.' It's marvelous that Morton Marcus and Bert's son, Daniel, have brought out this book."--Robert Bly, author of My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy

L.A.
The world's largest ash-tray,
the latest in concrete,
capital of the absurd;
one huge studio
where people drive
from set to set and everyone's
from a different planet.

For miles, the palm trees,
exotic janitors,
sweep out the sky at dusk.
The grey air molds.
Geraniums heat the alleys.
Jasmine and gasoline
undress the night.

This is the desert
that lost its mind,
the place that boredom built.
Freeways, condominiums, malls,
where the cartons of trash and diamonds
and ideologies
are opened, used, dumped into the sea.

Pencil Sharpener
It has no arms or legs, this tiny nude; yet grip
it by the waist, then stir its hips: a dry leaf multiplies,
a cold motor starts in the wood.

Revived, still shivering, the pencil sheds itself--
and there's a butterfly, teeth, the fragments of a
crown.

They Who Waste Me
When I ask for a hand,
they give me a shovel.
If I complain, they say,
Worms are needles at work
to clothe a corpse for spring.
I sigh.Whoever breathes
has inhaled a neighbor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A smattering of prose works round out this outstanding anthology of lifetime achievement.
In a Dybbuk's Raincoat is a hardcover anthology of collected poetry by California lyricist and poetry teacher Bert Meyers (1928-1979). Most of the free-verse poems are brief; their eclectic diversity shines with polished, original flair and range in subject from gentle reflections on aging to a blunt summary of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Los Angeles. Some of the collected poems were previously published in literary reviews or journal entries; others were previously unpublished. A smattering of prose works round out this outstanding anthology of lifetime achievement. "By the Sea": Across that loud scroll of water / fishermen still sail out / to earn a living, / a boat leaves for Peru... // And always, a multitude / unpacks a paradise / of Sundays on the sand / to celebrate the passage of its blood. ... Read more

Product Description
Anti-war poems by Denise Levertov, a passionate advocate of peace and justice and one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century.

Denise Levertov achieved recognition as a poet at a young age, winning the admiration of such older poets as T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams. Though she initially drew a line between her poetic works and her commitment to peace and justice, the Vietnam War inspired a change, and at the time of her death in 1997, she was acclaimed not only for her poetry, but also for her political engagement. Making Peace collects Levertov's finest poems about war and peace, subjects which she addresses with passion and nuance. Spanning the last three decades of her life, their subjects range from Vietnam to the death-squads of El Salvador to the first Gulf War. Often brutally vivid—in "The Certainty" she writes, "war / means blood spilling from living bodies"—Levertov's poems always have at their core her love for humanity, even as she registers her horror at what humans do to one another.

Introduced by Levertov scholar Peggy Rosenthal, these poems mirror the destruction that we witness today, but they also hold within them, as Levertov writes, "a small grain of hope." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Food for the spirit
I find Levertov always uplifting.One of my favorite poets. Book useful for sharing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Sylvia's mother
My name is Liebe Coolidge and Sylvia was my house trained pig in Vt. in the 70's. I was a very close friend of Denise Levertov and we decided to do the book together. She knew Sylvia. The pastel drawings were done over a few year period . I would draw the stories of my life with Sylvia and all my other animals. Denise would come over and ask about a drawing and I would tell her the story. She would go home and reapper with a poem. That is how the book came to be. She really got to the heart of Sylvia. It was as if Sylvia was talking. I was very lucky to have known Den.
I have a new pig now. He has lived with me for 8 years and I have painted him quite a bit. One can get in touch with me at : liebegoat@gmail.com . I am thrilled you are all enjoying the book. Liebe

Wonderful Poetry for all Ages
Pig Dreams is a marvelous book of poetry and watercolor. I would not consider it a young people's book in particular, and am surprised to see it being sold as such.As I heard the story, Denise Levertov's friend, Liebe Coolidge, a watercolor artist, actually had a pet pig, the Sylvia of the poems, and did some beautiful watercolors of life on her Vermont farm. Denise Levertov, on seeing the watercolors, was inspired to write the poems, taking the pig's point of view. But they are not cutsy. They are real poems. I teach an adult poetry writing class, and each term use Pig Dreams to inspire my students to "take another point of view" in their writing. It is always a big hit. ... Read more

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This unique and breathtaking collection of poetry provides both English and Ahtna language versions of many of the poems. ... Read more

Product Description
Mary Randlett's photographic vision of the Northwest is big-hearted, intricate, and tender -- and fully inhabited by the animals, tides, forests, mountains, and spirits that dwell there. What others may take for granted, Randlett sees as quintessential: overcast days with endless and often exquisite variations of gray clouds, raindrops on puddles, dripping branches, and distant shafts of sunlight breaking through the cloud cover. She is steeped in the history of the Northwest and its many art forms.

The images presented here are a visual record of the Northwest at its most pristine and poetic. During her many years of finely tuned observation, Randlett has learned to take the time to ponder the essences of what she sees -- the curl of a bird's drifting feather, a water strider not quite breaking the surface of the water, fog ascending a hillside, the moment a pond's surface turns to ice.

The magnificent photographs are accompanied by text that sheds light on the artist and her work. Anchoring the book is an essay by the internationally renowned poet Denise Levertov about Randlett the artist, along with seven of her own poems that were directly inspired by Randlett's photographs. In another essay, Washington artist Barry Herem situates Mary Randlett among the major figures in Northwest art. Photographer/actor Ted D'Arms offers an introductory essay addressing Randlett's place in photography and in the Northwest. Jo Ann Ridley provides a biographical chronology and Joyce Thompson remembers Randlett's seventieth birthday party. Randlett adds a technical note in which she shares details about the cameras, lenses, film, and printing techniques she has used, as well as pertinent information about time, place, and circumstances. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Subtle beauty
The subjects of the photos in the book are beautiful, I just wish they were in an enlarged format so the overall impression would pull the reader more strongly. The accompanying poetry on some of the pictures enhanced the aesthetic quality. I'd like to see more from this photographer.

Endless pleasure
Like only the finest of art photography -- photography which truly transcends its function as document or record -- Randlett's images make you want to look, and look, and keep looking, in the same way as a fine drawing or painting.There are some pictures here which are all but abstracts, and bear comparison with the finest abstract work in other mediums.However, usually you know what the object is at which she pointed her camera, but you are never its prisoner, never find yourself asking "just where is that island?"Instead you find yourself dwelling on the new thing, the new world, she has made of that object -- whether a tree, or a bird, or light on the sea, or a cloud-blurred mountain -- the world to be explored right there on the paper, within the spaces and shapes there delineated or suggested.You don't say "what a beautiful place, let's go there"; instead you say, "what a beautiful world I am in, just sitting here poring over these shapes and shadows".

At times Randlett's work reminds me of certain Japanese or especially Chinese ink drawings of landscapes, of the kind that employs blurring and suggestion more than precise outlines; it has some of that same mysterious suggestiveness.But not all her images are of that kind; she can capture sharp lines and silhouettes as well.But even then she is creating a new place, not pointing to one somewhere else, on your travel map; and she's inviting you in -- here, right here, on this paper:come in and dwell.

Some of these images were included in her recent show at the Tacoma Art Museum.If that show is still open, I strongly recommend a visit.In any case, I recommend this book and the worlds in it.It opens the way to endless exploration and pleasure.

Liquid Light
My husband and I stumbled upon Mary Randlett's photography exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum. We were immediately awed by the beauty and power of her photography. Then I was stunned to see poems by Denise Levertov scattered among the photographs. I'd discovered and loved Denise's poetry a few years earlier. The powerful combination of these two women's visions brought me to tears in the middle of the exhibition. Mary's unique way of seeing and capturing light as it plays across the landscape is moving, beautiful, haunting. You will never regret purchasing this book. ... Read more