Shade

by Frank Stanford

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Frank Stanford was a prolific American poet. He is most known for his epic, The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You— a labyrinthine poem without stanzas or punctuation. In addition, Stanford published six shorter books of poetry throughout his 20s, and three posthumous collections of his writings (as well as a book of selected poems) have also been published.

Just shy of his 30th birthday, Stanford died on June 3, 1978 in his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the victim of three self-inflicted pistol wounds to the heart. In the three decades since, he has become a cult figure in American letters.

Reviews

[Ray Nessly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights: ‘Soybeans’, ‘Liaison’, ‘Black Swan’, ‘All in My Good Time’, ‘Honeymoon’, ‘Fair Trial’, ‘The Hearse on the Other Side of the Canvas’, ‘Humming This Song Trying To Remember the Way Another One Goes’

Excerpts:

‘Liaison’

she never wore blue
but you could see her coming
like a dead star’s light
....
don't you remember
how she could make you
think the moon was a salt lick
for her cattle of darkness O
no here I go again
rolling up that burnt string
of sunlight and small talk
Christ can't we have a little
shade for our graves
listen are we really fucking
the people we love

‘The Hearse on the Other Side of the Canvas’

My face is cold
As a snow that wakes up a statue
….
The world is a circus I put in my ear
And I am a rider
Riding two plumed horses at once
The one is a dream and the other is real
I ride inside the circle
To keep from falling
I never think about the faces
Out there in the galleries
It’s too dark

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another tremendous collection by Stanford. If you're starting out with this post, I would begin with The Singing Knives as it has fewer throwaways. Stanford's surrealism is like that---there are maybe ten poems here you could just do without.

But as usual, the good ones are amazing and haunting and incisive as hell in their own weird way. Some standouts for me are "Tryst," "Slow Rag Of The Yearbook,"Humming This Song Trying To Remember The Way Another One Goes," and "The Hearse On The Other Side Of The Canvas."