Umbilical: Poems

by Michael Spence

"This book in three sections uses formally written poems--rhymed quatrains, sonnets, terza rima, blank verse--to link the relationship between the poet and his mother with the wider world derived from a rare definition of "descended through the female line." "Motherlands" deals with the connection of physical and mental landscapes. "Mother Tongues" focuses on language, spoken and unspoken. And "Blood Mothers" concentrates on flesh-and-blood mothers, whose support and inspiration help to shape our first thoughts. The poems move among scenes as varied as World War II, divorce, the Vietnam War, 9/11, and the imagined end of the world. The book concludes with a crown of sonnets about the poet's mother and his childhood in the South, showing in its way how all human life begins as female. Umbilical is the fifteenth winner of the annual New Criterion Poetry Prize. The New Criterion is recognized as one of the foremost contemporary venues for poetry that pays close attention to form. Building upon its commitment to serious poetry, The New Criterion established this annual prize in 2000"--Provided by publisher.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author on goodreads by this name.

Reviews

[George Witte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong collection with a number of standout poems that reflect a varied life experience, ranging from the author's parents' lives during WWII to his own Vietnam service aboard an aircraft carrier, as well as clear-eyed poems about nature and creatures, aging, marriage and love, home and displacement, the day-to-day of working for a living, and other subjects. These are formal poems, but not formalist: they are sturdy, memorable, well-made, with a sure sense of line and structure and very little flab. One senses here a voice that has developed on its own, over time and under the radar, outside the academic path that so many poets follow.

[Christian]

I picked this up because his poems rhyme. Some good ones in here:
"Plutonium - Its Root"
"Lament for Roral, Roric, Rorid, and Rory"
"The Exhortation of the Pigeon God"
"Hunting Game"
"Ten Nickels: New Orleans, 1965"
"My Name"
"His Reason"
"Downman Road: New Orleans, 1965"