Casting the Shadows: Selected Poems

by Dennis Patrick Slattery

Introductory essay plus 91 poems all original and all written by me.

123 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2001

About the author

Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D., is a core faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute who helped shape the development of the Mythological Studies program.

He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 17 books, including four volumes of poetry.

He likes motorcycles and currently resides in Texas with his wife Sandy.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slattery is not what one would call a poet by profession--he is, actually, a professor at the Pacifica Graduate Institute where he teaches in the mythological studies program. So I was pretty amazed that about half these poems have moments of skilled craftsmanship and intensely affecting imagery. I loved, for example, the description of the god Pan waking in the darkness, "his dell/ empty of nymphs," and all of his "insatiable desires" clinging "like burrs to his hairy loins." I felt the most successful poems in this collection were in the sections "Marking the Flesh" and "Theories of Motion," perhaps because of their highly visceral quality and sometimes shocking intensity (it's a quite good "rawness" there in the material and the writing). The poems about his family are very good and show the writer's great insight into human nature and growth. There were some poems in this collection maybe too abstract, not enough fleshy punch.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of several poetry books published by the author. I did a depth review of the second poetry book, "Just Below The Waterline". see http://mythopoetry.com/mythopoetics/r...

I also published a review of Dennis Slattery's third poetry volume, "Twisted Sky" by reviewer, Connie Lane Williams here: http://mythopoetry.com/mythopoetics/r...