Cairo Traffic

by Lloyd Schwartz

In Cairo Traffic , his third book of poems, Lloyd Schwartz asks the Sphinx to explain the riddle "about, you know, / Time and Power and Families-the one you think you / have the answer to. Tell me your answer! / No . . . don't." The search for answers takes the poet to some surprising, often phantasmagoric places, and back again to the self, to dreams, to home, and even to the nursing home where his mother-sphinxlike herself-becomes the person asking the dark questions and providing some unexpected answers. These extraordinary narratives-funny and frightening, seductive and profoundly moving-explore the intersections of character and language, the places where common speech mysteriously transforms itself into poetry. This book, which includes several translations of contemporary Brazilian poems, confirms Schwartz's growing reputation as an intensely compelling and original poet.

Genres: Poetry

93 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Matt Morris]

Read my review of this & other books at https://miscmss.blogspot.com/2018/08/...

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped to. I have been studying what are called free line poems, and this book did have some interesting ones.

[Dave Bufano · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have got to read "Sphynxie"