Song After All: The Letters of Reginald Shepherd and Alan Contreras

by Alan Contreras, Reginald Shepherd, Robert Philen

The late poet Reginald Shepherd corresponded for two years before his death with nature writer Alan Contreras. Song After All offers a new window into Shepherd’s thoughts on writing, music, love and, ultimately, dealing with cancer. Wry, funny, painful, illuminating and glorious, this unique compilation of 120 personal messages, plus blog posts, poetic commentary and essays is a moving and entertaining memorial. Also contains essays by Shepherd's partner Robert Philen and by Evan Eisenberg, and includes the complete text of Fernando Pessoa's poem Antinous, written in English in 1918 and rarely published in the U.S. All royalties from sales of this book benefit the Creative Writing program at the University of Oregon, where Shepherd was scheduled to speak shortly before he died.

200 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Alan Contreras has studied the birds of Lane County for over 30 years. He is past president of the Oregon Field Ornithologists, and has written and edited several books on Oregon birds, including Northwest Birds in Winter and Birds of Oregon: A General Reference. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Reviews

[Andrew H · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the surface, this book is a familiar format-- the letters between two poets. Nothing strange there. Many books have followed that concept. On reading, however, this is not the case, Reginald Shepherd was a significant American critic and poet. Alan Contreras is a university administrator. A friendship was struck up towards the end of Shepherd's life as Contreras wanted him to read at the University of Oregon. OK, that is just a misconception on my part. Rather different is the issue of misrepresentation: these are not letters, they are emails, and despite what Contreras asserts, a letter is not the same as an email. Letters are measured, more thoughtful documents. Emails are what a person dashes off, without a view to posterity, assuming that they are temporary. Letters are communion, emails are communication. What results is an odd mixture. We have Contreras telling Shepherd how he bedded a midwestern farm boy, a type nicer than "snooty twinks and attitude connoisseurs" and Shepherd divulging to Contreras about his dislike for the poet Carl Phillips, Professor of English at Washington. A more highbrow note is developed by the inclusion of excerpts from Contreras' blog and Shepherd's wonderfully literary blog, and with some inclusions from Robert Philen's writings, Shepherd's life partner. Shepherd was a polite and courteous and private writer, he disliked open shows of hostility, and the publication of emails seems to show private and personal boundaries dissolving in a not entirely happy manner. Song After All is highly readable, informative in some parts, but puts the reader in an uncomfortable voyeuristic position.

[Sarah Giragosian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's worth reading anything that Reginald Shepherd penned; however, this book contains emails, not letters, as indicated by the title. Nevertheless, this book does capture Shepherd's incredible spirit, his generosity, and total devotion to poetry in his final years as he battled with cancer.