Saint Peter and the Goldfinch

by Jack Ridl

Jack Ridl returns with a collection of poems that mix deft artistic skill with intimate mediations on everyday life, whether that be curiosity, loss, discovery, joy, or the passing of the seasons. An early reader of Saint Peter and the Goldfinch said it "Ridl s books are all treasures, as is he, and his poetry has always been trout-quick, alternately funny and wondrous, instantly intimate, and free of pretense. All these characteristics can be found in this book, and there is something else, something at an age where most poets are content to roll out an imagined posterity, he s decided to push and refine the art, to see out the day and live it fully, because art and life settle for no less." The first section of Saint Peter and the Goldfinch reflects on the author s personal history, with poems like "Feeding the Pup in the Early Morning" and "Some of What Was Left After Therapy." The second section continues with meditations on varied events and persons, and includes poems such as "The Last Days of Sam Snead" and "Coffee Talks with Con Hilberry." The third attends primarily to the mystery of love and what one loves, and contains the poems "The Inevitable Sorrow of Potatoes" and "Suite for the Long Married." The fourth and final section meditates primarily on the imagined in poems like "Over in That Corner, the Puppets" and "Meditation on a Photograph of a Man Jumping a Puddle in the Rain. " Saint Peter and the Goldfinch is the work of a talented and seasoned poet, one whose work comes out of the "plainspoken" tradition the kind of poetry that, as Thomas Lynch puts it, "has to deliver the goods, has to say something about life, something clear and discernible, or it has little to offer." Readers of poetry who enjoy wrestling with life s big questions will appreciate the space that Ridl allows for these ruminations.

Genres: Poetry

320 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2019

About the author

Jack Ridl born on April the 10th of 1944, is an American poet, and was a professor of English at Hope College,

Ridl's father, Charles "Buzz" Ridl, coached basketball at Westminster College, Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh. Ridl graduated from Westminster College, Pennsylvania with a BA and M.Ed., in 1970. He lives in Laketown Township, Michigan, with his wife, Julie.

His work has appeared in LIT, The Georgia Review, FIELD, Poetry, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast, The Denver Quarterly, Chelsea, Free Lunch, The Journal, Passages North, Dunes Review, and Poetry East. Hope College has named its Visiting Writers Series for him.

Reviews

[Keith Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridl's poems are very clean, his lines are clear and break in the places that accent grammar (like Merwin's, since I've been thinking of him a lot this week). If I were still teaching poetry to the young, I would continue to use Ridl's versification as a good example.

But his subject matter might not appeal to the young. Ridl has become one of the few poets who is writing well about growing old. So many poets either don't make it to the edge of old age, or give up too soon. Ridl has kept going, and is, I think, getting better in old age. And some of his subjects continue to be domestic. He is trying to live and live meaningfully in a real place with the real people around him.

Now the danger of this approach both in style and subject might be that the poet drifts in to a kind of complacency. I think we have seen that in many poets over the years. But I don't get that feeling at all in Ridl's poems. There is an edge in Ridl's poems that keeps them very interesting. I think it comes from two things -- we are never far from the presence of death in this work. Sometimes it is only manifest in a phrase or two hidden in a poem, but it is still there. Even though the poet is or tries to be courageous in front of it, that presence remains. The other thing that keeps the poems interesting is the uncertain attempt to come to terms with an equally uncertain god. Ridl's poems are often prayers but they are prayers that don't really quite believe they will be answered.

This is a book that drew me in and will continue to live in my imagination.

A couple of weeks after I reviewed this here, I did a radio review of it:

https://www.michiganradio.org/post/re...

[Sean Kottke]

DNF; halfway through, and it really wasn't moving me. Unpopular opinion, I know, but I subscribe to Edward Hirsch's theory that a poem is a message in a bottle. Some will wash up on a lot of readers' beaches, others will float a long time before connecting with the right reader, and it's OK if a seemingly universally beloved poem or collection doesn't land with some readers. This is one of those collections for me.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just fantastic. I've loved Ridl's poems for a long time, and this latest installment did not disappoint. Peace in the everyday exudes from the pages, the joy of noticing the details, the exuberance of birds. I should read more of this kind of poetry.

[Melissa Seitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful poems about life.

[Anna Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked a few of these quite a lot.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Ridl is a poet who is deeply engaged with life and sees the best in people, places, moments. I feel like a light-bulb suddenly switched on when I'm reading his work. These are poems that harness the wonder of being alive. Highly recommend!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply wonderful. The poems let one drink deeply from the many facets of life. Joyful, graceful, often humorous, and so so good. Thank you Jack!