There is No Finished World

by Stephen Corey

In poems that are relentlessly introspective yet never trivial, Corey delves into human experience at its most potent moments and shows us that the large questions are best considered within the context of the most minute details. When, as an editor and sitting in a hospital keeping a death watch, he addresses a poet whose poem he has rejected because it doesn’t rise to the emotional level of the situation, he says, "I’m sure/ you’re thinking this private critique unfair,/ and you’d be right to be upset, except/ that you’d be wrong. This place, right here, is where/ we always meet: Beatrice with her chart/ devoid of final blessings, you and I/ searching for the words that nail sensation to the sky."

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each of Corey's poems seems to focus on a single idea and explore it, eventually reaching a conclusion: a statement or revelation or the real question posed. They seem more philosophical than emotional, but that works for my personal taste. The language it precise and controlled. it reminds me of excellent penmanship. None of that is to say the poems are without emotion. Quite the opposite. It's just that Corey relies on understatement and subtlety. He's banished melodrama in favor of thoughtfulness.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

After All These Lands... I wanted to love this book, and didn't.