Variations on Dawn and Dusk

by Dan Beachy-Quick

Acting as poetic records of light, the poems in Variations on Dawn and Dusk follow the sun as it warms, cools, colors, and shifts the space of Robert Irwin’s untitled (dawn to dusk) in the desert of Marfa, TX. Built on the footprint of the town’s old hospital, Irwin’s permanent installation is a remarkable structure with walls, windows, and screens that both capture and are taken over by the sun’s changing light. Through this deeply engaged ekphrasis, Dan Beachy-Quick uses language to participate in the overpowering elegance of Irwin’s structure. The poet’s fervent observations lead us in cycles of meditation, moving with the light that slides through the surfaces of the installation. Here, the very foundation of our vision—light—forms the vocabulary from which these poems are built.
Building from Irwin’s use of rhythm and structure, the poems in this collection are constructed with an architectural framework. Rhythmic procedures inversely link the first and last words of the first and last lines of each poem and tie the number of lines to the number of syllables in the first line. These structures form a pattern, a thoughtful consistency through which we are invited to move and meditate with each variation of light.
 

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[Jerrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This National Book Award longlisted poetry collection was a short, very quick, and enjoyable read. These poems are lovely little meditations, almost prayer-like

[Mary Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Forty-four pages of incomprehensible nonsense. You remember that image that went around a few years ago of a person holding a sign up that says “imagine how is touch the sky” that became somewhat of a meme? It’s like that for the entire collection.

[Zulfiya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of course, fiction is subjective, and poetry is subjective even more, but there is a reason why something is called poetry. It should have something - rhyme, rhythms, alliteration, structure, meter, blank verse, couplets, caesure, assonance, syntax, anybody? I do not mean all of them .... Just a couple of poetic features to call this book a collection of poetry. Oh well, I need to be fair - there might have been a couple of enjambments ... that might have been just accidental rather then intended.

I am not a reader of poetry, but I do admire some poems and lyricisms, and it is unrealistic to expect the precision and energy of William Blake, symbolism of John Donne, quiet force of W. B. Yates, mournful rhyme of Auden, and quiescent definitiveness of Roger Mcgough, but I wanted something ... something that would have reached me emotionally, would have touched the fibers of my soul regardless of form and meaning. Alas, it it did not.

It is definitely a book of self expression, but I am not sure that it is the book of poetry ...

[Heidi Thorsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first few pages I thought, " Nah, this book isn't for me, but it's so short I might as well finish it." But by page 12 I finally read something I liked, and by page 14 I decided I *did* like this book after all. Once I finished it and thought I had figured out the main themes, I immediately went back and read it all again. And feel like I'm richer for the experience.

[Misty]

One of my favorite writings from this is.

I had wanted a quiet testament
and I had wanted, among other things,
a song a pure empty shape like a child
would draw when asked to draw the shape called home
a square with no roof but the sky and sky
thinks in clouds and when the clouds go clear
that light that falls down but is not falling
on things not paradise it won't cohere
not the crystal acorn not the gold thread
not amen what fills also forms the eye

[Donna Mork · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ekphrasis collection based on Robert Irwin's artwork. Though many may enjoy the short seemingly disconnected phrases, this was not to my particular taste. Others have obviously enjoyed it. It is a quick read but not something I will likely read again. As in all writing, it is subjective and the work is short enough for each reader to make their own judgement on it.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

is it possible and how
is it if it is the work
to do to be done to put
with bare hands not the blue sky
in a box but the sun you
know there is no you some dark
thou who dark through a screen sees



Open a door that isn't a door
as you walk through it and come out
The same you you were before and nothing
is the twisting mirror of God where love
and soul embrace a window open
never not open never not closed
where witness is trespassing prayer



is the idea incomplete
or does the sun adjust love
breaks apart the perfect myth
of love that there is a line
dividing dusk from dawn or
am I who is undone prayer
forgets it forms helplessness



riddle that everything fits
inside the space it's given
even my own hand-made thought
even my own hand-made mind
builds the tool that takes the tool
apart time is another
method so is the fiddle



The poet wrote these poems to accompany an art installation in West Texas and I paired them with photos from my life worshipping light.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I have come to expect with Beachy-Quick, these poems teach me a new way to read. It’s exciting—and, at times, subtle—how the surreal and concrete weave together a consciousness! I’m all in with this style!

[anon · Rating 5 out of 5]

O God this was incredible, cracking open my dead heart and filling it with the stuff of songbirds. Sublime, supremely musical, heart-wrenching, deeply curious, and all ways luminous, these brief lyrics dance, shining a light on the void.

[Mills College Library]

811.6 B353v 2019

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a first read, but quietly stunning. Will need to sit with it for another re-read or two, but I relish the occasion.

[Andrew Pitkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was not what I thought it was - I found it somewhat superficial, with words stretching to be bigger than they are. I would not read it again any time soon.

[Erik Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

"... Homer unfolds his chair
in hell on shore behind the eyes"

[Bella Moses · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah there’s so much here…every line gets more and more masterful the more I look into it.