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October Light
Poetry by a native Californian who lives in San Francisco.
- GenresPoetry
55 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1987
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 7, 2019
Great book by one of our finest poets
July 7, 2008
An excerpt of my review from Galatea Resurrects:
[Review first appeared in Pacific Reader, Volume 15, No. 1, Summer/Fall 2005. Editor Alan Chong Lau]
At the risk of appearing cliché, the word I keep coming back to is “home.”
Jeff Tagami offers us poems in the voices of those who have experienced loss in his book of poems October Light. To begin with a violence, a loss of life, as in “October 23rd,” we immediately understand the significance of October, and of Autumn -- this is the ending of the cycle of life. Loss happens in industrial accidents, in mental unsoundness, as in “The Horn Blow,” and “Now it is Broccoli.” The rural life to which Tagami has introduced us is far from idyllic; real people lose real pieces of themselves as they work to make this place their home.
Set along the Pajaro River of Central California, Tagami’s poems explore the intimate relationship between the land and those who work it. The Pajaro is the life vein of this community, a ubiquitous and ever-changing force; it is more than mere river. In “Song of Pajaro”:
Pajaro the men thigh deep in mud…
Pajaro the children who clean…
Now Pajaro is tired…
This Pajaro of my mother…
Read the rest here: http://galatearesurrection2.blogspot....
[Review first appeared in Pacific Reader, Volume 15, No. 1, Summer/Fall 2005. Editor Alan Chong Lau]
At the risk of appearing cliché, the word I keep coming back to is “home.”
Jeff Tagami offers us poems in the voices of those who have experienced loss in his book of poems October Light. To begin with a violence, a loss of life, as in “October 23rd,” we immediately understand the significance of October, and of Autumn -- this is the ending of the cycle of life. Loss happens in industrial accidents, in mental unsoundness, as in “The Horn Blow,” and “Now it is Broccoli.” The rural life to which Tagami has introduced us is far from idyllic; real people lose real pieces of themselves as they work to make this place their home.
Set along the Pajaro River of Central California, Tagami’s poems explore the intimate relationship between the land and those who work it. The Pajaro is the life vein of this community, a ubiquitous and ever-changing force; it is more than mere river. In “Song of Pajaro”:
Pajaro the men thigh deep in mud…
Pajaro the children who clean…
Now Pajaro is tired…
This Pajaro of my mother…
Read the rest here: http://galatearesurrection2.blogspot....
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February 1, 2013811.54 T125o 1990
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews