Returning Your Call: Poems

Princeton Series of Contemporary Poets

by Leonard Nathan

"Every poet has one or two compulsive themes," writes Leonard Nathan. "One of mine is how to make things fit together that don't but should; the other is getting down far enough below a surface to see if something is still worth praising. Over the years and without self-consciously trying. I have moved closer and closer to the human voice in my verse. But I have also tried to keep a quality in it―for lack of a better word, I call it eloquence―that makes it more than conversation. My hope is to be clear, true, and good listening."

Originally published in 1975.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Leonard Nathan has published many volumes of poetry, as well as numerous translations, prose works, and articles on poetry.

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nathan says himself, on the back of this book, something about a few obsessive themes of his which appear in _Returning Your Call_. I like writers -- especially poets -- who admit to these obsessions, and the one that stuck out to me was his theme mourning things that don't quite fit together but should. That is the prevailing sentiment (for me) of this gem that I picked up in a small used bookstore. The poems are at once heartbreaking and reassuring, and some of Nathan's lines make me want to stand up, spin in circles, and read them again.

[Mark Osaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leonard Nathan's legacy is a body of work that makes him one of the finest contemporary voices in American poetry. Deceptively understated, his poems display a remarkable acuteness of vision as they reveal the joy, sadness, passion and indifference of everyday events. Lyric warmth joined by fierce honesty.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 N274r 1975