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Whereas: Poems
In wise and masterful poems, Stephen Dunn “reveals a deep understanding of human longing and the desire to become more than what we are” ( Washington Post ). Incisively capturing the oddities of our logic and the whimsies of our reason, the poems in Whereas show there is always another side to a story. With graceful rhythm and equal parts humor and seriousness, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn examines the difficulties of telling the truth, and the fictions with which we choose to live. Finding beauty in the ordinary, this collection considers the superstition and sophistry embedded in everyday life, allowing room for more rethinking, reflection, revision, prayer, and magic in the world.
80 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2019
8 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Dunn
95 books132 followersStephen Dunn was born in New York City in 1939. He earned a B.A. in history and English from Hofstra University, attended the New School Writing Workshops, and finished his M.A. in creative writing at Syracuse University. Dunn has worked as a professional basketball player, an advertising copywriter, and an editor, as well as a professor of creative writing.
Dunn's books of poetry include Everything Else in the World (W. W. Norton, 2006); Local Visitations (2003); Different Hours (2000), winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry; Loosestrife (1996); New and Selected Poems: 1974-1994 (1994); Landscape at the End of the Century (1991); Between Angels (1989); Local Time (1986), winner of the National Poetry Series; Not Dancing (1984); Work & Love (1981); A Circus of Needs (1978); Full of Lust and Good Usage (1976); and Looking For Holes In the Ceiling 1974. He is also the author of Walking Light: Memoirs and Essays on Poetry (BOA Editions, 2001), and Riffs & Reciprocities: Prose Pairs (1998).
Dunn's other honors include the Academy Award for Literature, the James Wright Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He has taught poetry and creative writing and held residencies at Wartburg College, Wichita State University, Columbia University, University of Washington, Syracuse University, Southwest Minnesota State College, Princeton University, and University of Michigan. Dunn is currently Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and lives in Port Republic, New Jersey.
Dunn's books of poetry include Everything Else in the World (W. W. Norton, 2006); Local Visitations (2003); Different Hours (2000), winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry; Loosestrife (1996); New and Selected Poems: 1974-1994 (1994); Landscape at the End of the Century (1991); Between Angels (1989); Local Time (1986), winner of the National Poetry Series; Not Dancing (1984); Work & Love (1981); A Circus of Needs (1978); Full of Lust and Good Usage (1976); and Looking For Holes In the Ceiling 1974. He is also the author of Walking Light: Memoirs and Essays on Poetry (BOA Editions, 2001), and Riffs & Reciprocities: Prose Pairs (1998).
Dunn's other honors include the Academy Award for Literature, the James Wright Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He has taught poetry and creative writing and held residencies at Wartburg College, Wichita State University, Columbia University, University of Washington, Syracuse University, Southwest Minnesota State College, Princeton University, and University of Michigan. Dunn is currently Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and lives in Port Republic, New Jersey.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 19, 2017
"What's a poet anyway but someone who gives/ the unnamed a name?"
Many years ago I came across Stephen Dunn's poetry. I thought I knew where but it turned out to be a false memory. It happens to me more and more often now, misremembering something vividly recalled, learning it didn't happen that way at all. I requested Dunn's new book of poems Whereas through Edelweiss because I recalled his name and wanted to read his latest poems.
Dunn begins with a poem on his seventy-fifth birthday considering "the movement from ignorance to astonishment" and the "strangeness, the immensity" of life. He ends with A Short History of Long Ago, recalling the simple things of childhood that brought contentment followed by adulthood's choices and desires, concluding, "A bad memory is the key to happiness./I apologize for everything I haven't done."
These poems written from the wisdom of maturity are thoughtful without being abstruse, universal by being personal. Duplicity and truth, the role of the storyteller, nature vs artifice, faith, and superstition, marriage and parenthood, the mystery of life--his themes are universal.
I read the poems several times, with certain lines resonating with me.
The Melancholy of the Nude considers an artist's model who lives in "a world where she was both woman and thing."
In Be Careful you are warned not to look into the eyes of an animal, no matter how beautiful, for staring means aggression, and "Doesn't blood usually follow when language fails?"
In Even the Awful he writes, "I would prefer an occasional bout of joy, which I could recover from in a day or so, and maybe even speak about, whereas ecstasy (that one time) made me silent." A deceased friend "just lay there, immobile, like a Calder without a breath of air to move it. In fact, he had become an 'it', and those of us who knew him noted how poorly itness suited him."
In Creatures we see him at the seashore watching a pelican following a dolphin, feeding on a school of fish and concludes that "to step out/of our houses any morning is to risk/being variously selected, and that nothing/like kindness of beauty of justice/will ever change the truth of some lives."
I keep returning to these poems. Each reading I discover something I had missed.
Dunn won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
http://www.pulitzer.org/article/steph...
I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Many years ago I came across Stephen Dunn's poetry. I thought I knew where but it turned out to be a false memory. It happens to me more and more often now, misremembering something vividly recalled, learning it didn't happen that way at all. I requested Dunn's new book of poems Whereas through Edelweiss because I recalled his name and wanted to read his latest poems.
Dunn begins with a poem on his seventy-fifth birthday considering "the movement from ignorance to astonishment" and the "strangeness, the immensity" of life. He ends with A Short History of Long Ago, recalling the simple things of childhood that brought contentment followed by adulthood's choices and desires, concluding, "A bad memory is the key to happiness./I apologize for everything I haven't done."
These poems written from the wisdom of maturity are thoughtful without being abstruse, universal by being personal. Duplicity and truth, the role of the storyteller, nature vs artifice, faith, and superstition, marriage and parenthood, the mystery of life--his themes are universal.
I read the poems several times, with certain lines resonating with me.
The Melancholy of the Nude considers an artist's model who lives in "a world where she was both woman and thing."
In Be Careful you are warned not to look into the eyes of an animal, no matter how beautiful, for staring means aggression, and "Doesn't blood usually follow when language fails?"
In Even the Awful he writes, "I would prefer an occasional bout of joy, which I could recover from in a day or so, and maybe even speak about, whereas ecstasy (that one time) made me silent." A deceased friend "just lay there, immobile, like a Calder without a breath of air to move it. In fact, he had become an 'it', and those of us who knew him noted how poorly itness suited him."
In Creatures we see him at the seashore watching a pelican following a dolphin, feeding on a school of fish and concludes that "to step out/of our houses any morning is to risk/being variously selected, and that nothing/like kindness of beauty of justice/will ever change the truth of some lives."
I keep returning to these poems. Each reading I discover something I had missed.
Dunn won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
http://www.pulitzer.org/article/steph...
I received a free ebook from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
August 25, 2016
(3.5) “A Card from Me to Me,” the prefatory poem, sets the tone, as the poet wishes himself a happy 75th birthday and marvels at “the strangeness, the immensity, of what I have / and have had and every small thing that against the odds continues to be.” Much of what follows is about life and death, success and failure, and what we learn from it all. Writing about a funeral: “at such moments / everyone is an amateur of feelings.”
I especially liked “Unnatural,” with its meditation on nature vs. artifice, “Let’s Say,” and “Nothing Personal,” about an author killing off a character (or is that God killing off the narrator?). These are very lucid poems, reading like complete sentences and thorough trains of thought, with memorable alliteration and vocabulary. I’d read more from Dunn. Releases February 21st.
I especially liked “Unnatural,” with its meditation on nature vs. artifice, “Let’s Say,” and “Nothing Personal,” about an author killing off a character (or is that God killing off the narrator?). These are very lucid poems, reading like complete sentences and thorough trains of thought, with memorable alliteration and vocabulary. I’d read more from Dunn. Releases February 21st.
June 12, 2020
THE OWNER OF THE BOUTIQUE AT
REDWOOD FALLS
There came a time when she found pleasure
in saying the word pussy, alert to see whom it shocked
or didn’t. It was the same time when penis often felt
like a mere gentleman of a word, though the thing itself
remained to her a sweet second best, an option. Pussy
was groove and tongue, sometimes a perfect fit,
which meant to her a connection
that didn’t need to be explained.
It had a language unto itself, gospel-like, rapturous
oohs and throaty huzzahs coming from a church
in the woods with its doors always open.
She also liked saying cock, those early mornings
she heard it call to her from afar,
when she’d wake and begin to dream.
Finally, though, she had to admit a penis
was silly, mostly hiding, like a diphthong
in a sentence you had to work too hard to figure out.
Whereas pussy was something that could go
the extra mile, give repeat performances,
and was peculiarly hers. She knew how it worked,
and when it didn’t want to, and what she wanted
to hear if she desired the naughty, the needed.
REDWOOD FALLS
There came a time when she found pleasure
in saying the word pussy, alert to see whom it shocked
or didn’t. It was the same time when penis often felt
like a mere gentleman of a word, though the thing itself
remained to her a sweet second best, an option. Pussy
was groove and tongue, sometimes a perfect fit,
which meant to her a connection
that didn’t need to be explained.
It had a language unto itself, gospel-like, rapturous
oohs and throaty huzzahs coming from a church
in the woods with its doors always open.
She also liked saying cock, those early mornings
she heard it call to her from afar,
when she’d wake and begin to dream.
Finally, though, she had to admit a penis
was silly, mostly hiding, like a diphthong
in a sentence you had to work too hard to figure out.
Whereas pussy was something that could go
the extra mile, give repeat performances,
and was peculiarly hers. She knew how it worked,
and when it didn’t want to, and what she wanted
to hear if she desired the naughty, the needed.
July 3, 2017
a line from the poem about poetry: "you want that boy who used to read under the covers by flashlight to once again be astonished." (good job)
August 1, 2021
Each of us would be testing excellence
and endurance in the other,
though in the past I'd often veer off
to follow some feral distraction
down a side path, allowing myself
to pursue something odd or beautiful,
not trying to, but becoming acquainted
with a few of the many ways
to measure success and failure.
from Always Something More Beautiful
and endurance in the other,
though in the past I'd often veer off
to follow some feral distraction
down a side path, allowing myself
to pursue something odd or beautiful,
not trying to, but becoming acquainted
with a few of the many ways
to measure success and failure.
from Always Something More Beautiful
May 4, 2024
Stephen Dunn is just so good at philosophy that resists being philosophy, and realizing that contradiction and living within it. One of Dunn's strengths has always been to explore the less than magnanimous aspects of human nature and relationships. Not to say that Dunn promotes selfishness and disregard of others--far from it! If anything, he takes the more self-centered view, in a way that is protective and at least a little contrary and, yes, loving. In Dunn's best poetry, there is a glorious, mad love for our 'weaker' moments, when we are less than selfless, which is to say when we are perhaps being our most honestly human selves. When summarizing this viewpoint, his poetry can sound very patriarchal, forgiving men for being bad, so it's hard to convey how these poems examine how we take these actions to acknowledge their faults but to also ask what is exactly so faulty about them. Take a moment where the speaker mulls over a difficult student in "At the School for the Deaf":
There've been others in my life smart enough
not to let themselves
be loved by me, but I can't remember
wanting so hard what I couldn't get.
There is such a mix here of self-effacement, and living with that fault as opposed to excusing it, which is possibly the only way Dunn excuses such self-centeredness: as a way to keep living in the world. Greatly enjoyed this collection.
There've been others in my life smart enough
not to let themselves
be loved by me, but I can't remember
wanting so hard what I couldn't get.
There is such a mix here of self-effacement, and living with that fault as opposed to excusing it, which is possibly the only way Dunn excuses such self-centeredness: as a way to keep living in the world. Greatly enjoyed this collection.
March 11, 2017
Whereas is the fourth collection I have read by Stephen Dunn and probably my favorite. The thematic throughlines in this collection - truth, death, nature, fiction - are stronger than they have been in other Dunn collections.
Dunn, a poet of ideas and philosophical grounding, is always enlightening. He is also 75 years old. AT the risk of sounding ageist, passion and discovery don't always stick around for writers at that point. In "Let's Say", a poem situated in Whereas's third and final section, Dunn reflects: "You want that boy / who used to read under the covers by flashlight / to once again be astonished." This is a goal that all writers should strive for in their work and Dunn once again makes the unseen seen in his 18th collection.
One of the ways that Dunn astonishes is by crafting a handful of postmodern Aesop fables like "The Revolt of the Turtles", in which a group of Saunders-esque sea turtles discusses "How to Live Among People Who Among / Other Atrocities Want to Turn You into Soup." At times Whereas feels like a zoo; poems featuring dolphins, tigers, and natural selection surface consistently enough to tantalize the late Marianne Moore.
In addition to philosophy and animals, Dunn is not afraid to use scenes (that at least seem to be) culled directly from his own life for the sake of poetry. In poems like "The First Person" and "Slippages", it is clear that Dunn is still reflecting on the death of his brother, as he did more explicitly in his previous collection Lines of Defense.
Dunn seeks to alleviate gender biases by exploring women's perspective on the world in poems like "Ambush at Five O'Clock", "Men Falling", and "The Owner of the Boutique At Redwood Falls", glimpsing into the head of a female character who weighs the connotations associated with various names for genitalia.
Of course, some of these poems are more thought-provoking than others, but it is comforting to see that one of our most valuable mainstays in American poetry is still finding ways to challenge himself and his readers.
Highlights
"A Card from Me to Me"
"In the Land of Superstition"
"An Evolution of Prayer"
"Emergings"
"The Problem"
"The Architect"
"Nothing Personal"
"In Distress"
"The Revolt of the Turtles"
"The Short History of Long Ago"
Dunn, a poet of ideas and philosophical grounding, is always enlightening. He is also 75 years old. AT the risk of sounding ageist, passion and discovery don't always stick around for writers at that point. In "Let's Say", a poem situated in Whereas's third and final section, Dunn reflects: "You want that boy / who used to read under the covers by flashlight / to once again be astonished." This is a goal that all writers should strive for in their work and Dunn once again makes the unseen seen in his 18th collection.
One of the ways that Dunn astonishes is by crafting a handful of postmodern Aesop fables like "The Revolt of the Turtles", in which a group of Saunders-esque sea turtles discusses "How to Live Among People Who Among / Other Atrocities Want to Turn You into Soup." At times Whereas feels like a zoo; poems featuring dolphins, tigers, and natural selection surface consistently enough to tantalize the late Marianne Moore.
In addition to philosophy and animals, Dunn is not afraid to use scenes (that at least seem to be) culled directly from his own life for the sake of poetry. In poems like "The First Person" and "Slippages", it is clear that Dunn is still reflecting on the death of his brother, as he did more explicitly in his previous collection Lines of Defense.
Dunn seeks to alleviate gender biases by exploring women's perspective on the world in poems like "Ambush at Five O'Clock", "Men Falling", and "The Owner of the Boutique At Redwood Falls", glimpsing into the head of a female character who weighs the connotations associated with various names for genitalia.
Of course, some of these poems are more thought-provoking than others, but it is comforting to see that one of our most valuable mainstays in American poetry is still finding ways to challenge himself and his readers.
Highlights
"A Card from Me to Me"
"In the Land of Superstition"
"An Evolution of Prayer"
"Emergings"
"The Problem"
"The Architect"
"Nothing Personal"
"In Distress"
"The Revolt of the Turtles"
"The Short History of Long Ago"
February 4, 2018
The blurb on the book jacket of this astonishing volume of poetry begins by saying, "Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn examines the difficulties of telling the truth, and the fictions with which we choose to live." It goes on to promise that what we will read will demonstrate that there is always another side to the story.
I have read and enjoyed much of Dunn's work and had the distinct pleasure of hearing him read during the 75th anniversary celebration of Hofstra University, an alma mater we share. Dunn's poetry is extremely thought provoking, yet very accessible.
Many of the poems in this volume explore the apparent contradictions which, because they coexist, give life its depth and meaning.
This collection is one I will return to again and again and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I will discover new insights with each visit.
I have read and enjoyed much of Dunn's work and had the distinct pleasure of hearing him read during the 75th anniversary celebration of Hofstra University, an alma mater we share. Dunn's poetry is extremely thought provoking, yet very accessible.
Many of the poems in this volume explore the apparent contradictions which, because they coexist, give life its depth and meaning.
This collection is one I will return to again and again and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I will discover new insights with each visit.
March 12, 2023
Stephen Dunn is a phenomenal poet. When he confronts death he has few rivals in the offhand dismissal of the grandiose and the supposedly deep. When he writes about sex or animals or weather he seems to strive for better conclusions, if any. But still, his answers to the everyday is always surprised enough, witty and a bit like a shrug of impotence against the decay. It’s all I can do, he seems to say. I’ll come back for more.
November 15, 2025
My favorite Dunn poems are his ones about relationships, though there are one or two pretty bleak ones in this collection that stand out. I sometimes feel like poets of his generation attempt to write in a kind of every-moment, so I appreciate that Dunn resists that and has poems that are hyperpresent and even hyperpolitical. Another form of vulnerability, I think, that is displayed so well in this collection.
June 8, 2022
It is impossible to read these poems by Stephen Dunn without hearing the late poet’s voice reciting them. How lucky we are to have these shrewd, erudite, funny, and philosophical poems—or “mindscapes,” as I’ve heard Dunn’s poems called—to keep his voice alive.
March 21, 2023
"Emergings" is going to be my playbook and "At the School for the Deaf" by memoir. "Why We Need Unions" is the angel on my shoulder and "One Night at Mama Sorrento's" my devil.
Thank you infinity for these slipping lion-hearted fox poems.
Thank you infinity for these slipping lion-hearted fox poems.
May 20, 2017
This is it.
This is as good as poetry gets.
That is my opinion...
No one has to share it.
Stephen Dunn is the master.
This is as good as poetry gets.
That is my opinion...
No one has to share it.
Stephen Dunn is the master.
June 12, 2017
top form
July 3, 2017
Non-urgent philosophizing. :) I still like Different Hours way more than anything Dunn has produced since and wholly recommend one start there when reading him.
September 30, 2017
Stephen Dunn is a phenomenal poet. I felt like this collection spoke to me in an oddly poignant time in my life. His blend of words and stories is delightful and thought-provoking.
January 23, 2018
3.5 Stars
November 5, 2019
"My father is dead; he only has the words I remember
and choose to give him."
and choose to give him."
May 12, 2021
Underwhelming work from my favorite poet. A few good ones, but not his best collection for sure.
September 29, 2022
Solid 4.5
August 6, 2023
This makes me stop and think
August 11, 2016
Stephen Dunn is one of our best contemporary poets and this book finds him exploring life and nature, finding both beauty and confusion as he ages. His poems are deceptive and alluring in their analysis of the everyday and finding more. Always thoughtful and provocative, this book further cements Dunn's already strong reputation.
[I received an advanced e-galley from the publisher in exchange for this review. The book is due to be published February 21, 2017.]
[I received an advanced e-galley from the publisher in exchange for this review. The book is due to be published February 21, 2017.]
August 28, 2020
There's a good reason this guy is prolific and people still read him. He is a master of elliptical meditations on logic and always manages to land somewhere both surprising and seen. Wonderful.
Read
November 7, 2017Rating: 3 1/2
Favorites:
"Nothing Personal"
"The Melancholy of the Nude" - nude model
"Impediment" - about an Edward Hopper painting
"For Some a Mountain" - argument with his dead father
our nature so human we hide
behind words that disguise and justify
- "Unnatural"
and something less than love
felt irresistible in elevators and back seats
- "The Problem"
Favorites:
"Nothing Personal"
"The Melancholy of the Nude" - nude model
"Impediment" - about an Edward Hopper painting
"For Some a Mountain" - argument with his dead father
our nature so human we hide
behind words that disguise and justify
- "Unnatural"
and something less than love
felt irresistible in elevators and back seats
- "The Problem"
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews