Before Sleep: Poems

by Philip Booth

Book by Booth, Philip

78 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1980

About the author

Philip Booth is a Fellow of the Academy of American Poets and has been honored by Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. The poem "Crossing" appeared in his first book, Letter from a Distant Land. Of his inspiration for the poem, he says, "I grew up in White River Junction, Vermont, where the White River and the Connecticut River come together. Many, many trains come down the river valley, traveling from Montreal to Boston, on to New Haven and beyond. The real crossing of this poem, though, is in Brunswick, Maine."


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book typifies the stagnation of institutional poetry at the onset of the Eighties. There's a sibling-like adoration of Frost, Thoreau, and Melville, to the point where chopping wood is posturing and discussion of woodwork has the ring of fetishistic dilettantism. Trying to find real insight through the puffery is difficult. There's a narrative concept demonstrated in interspersed "Night Notes" that threatens to consume the whole with shoestring stakes flavored with local Maine color. A few unadorned moments, which result from the dispatch of chin-raising, make real contact. The rest is timeshare scrap-booking.

[Penny · Rating 3 out of 5]

3-1/2 stars
This collection contains a bit much of dissatisfaction about aging and dying. The word 'nothing' is used A LOT.

Poetry is such a personal experience but you will find poems worth reading. I particularly liked "Building Her," the untitled poem that begins "Given this day, none," and "The House in the Trees."

[Jerry-Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13764039