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Orrery
Poems consider the nature of reality, time, memory, dreams, myths, the seasons, and science
- GenresPoetry
108 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1985
20 people want to read
About the author
Richard Kenney
34 books11 followersRichard L. Kenney (born 1948) is a poet and professor of English. Kenney and his family live in Port Townsend, Washington.
He is the author of four books of poetry: The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, Orrery, The Invention Of The Zero, and The One-Strand River: Poems, 1994-2007.
After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1970, Kenney won a Reynolds Fellowship and studied Celtic lore in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. He teaches in the English department at the University of Washington and has published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The American Scholar.
Drawing from many great writers and thinkers throughout time, Kenney often includes references to them in his works. James Merrill influenced him the most, and, fittingly so, his third book, The Invention of the Zero, is dedicated to him. Other notable influences include W.B. Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Lowell, and Philip Larkin.
Known for having an avalanching and original style, James Merrill best sums it up in his foreword to The Evolution of the Flightless Bird:
"The poetic wheels just spin and spin, getting nowhere fast. But Kenney--it's what one likes best about him--nearly always has an end in view, a story to tell."
He is the author of four books of poetry: The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, Orrery, The Invention Of The Zero, and The One-Strand River: Poems, 1994-2007.
After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1970, Kenney won a Reynolds Fellowship and studied Celtic lore in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. He teaches in the English department at the University of Washington and has published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and The American Scholar.
Drawing from many great writers and thinkers throughout time, Kenney often includes references to them in his works. James Merrill influenced him the most, and, fittingly so, his third book, The Invention of the Zero, is dedicated to him. Other notable influences include W.B. Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Lowell, and Philip Larkin.
Known for having an avalanching and original style, James Merrill best sums it up in his foreword to The Evolution of the Flightless Bird:
"The poetic wheels just spin and spin, getting nowhere fast. But Kenney--it's what one likes best about him--nearly always has an end in view, a story to tell."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 25, 2012
Is the universe simple, or not? This book is built to tock, like a well-preserved museum machine with rare and elaborate gears, and a patina that still evidences a severe pride of craft. Reading it is like winding up the connections between sky phenomena, the seasons in New England, and poetry itself. It is like the equipment of a surveyor that measures things constantly. Like this, describing the harsh wintry sweetness of the sugarmaker's labor: "To March. The cold sun arcs/above us as the zinc/curve of a bucket handle bites across the palm. Snow falls. Streams/freeze." (Sugar Season) If the machine creaks during use, it is because language, as a technology, is given too much work to do. Sometimes a beautiful watch gets us lost marvelling in its construction, and tells time less accurately then no watch at all.
Displaying 1 of 1 review