American Flamingo

by Greg Pape

Taking its title from an Audubon painting, American Flamingo shares with the artist an exquisite attention to detail and the suggestion of a larger sense of time and place through depictions of the intimate interactions between creatures and their habitats. In his fifth collection of poetry, Greg Pape melds memorable images from the natural world with the drama of ordinary experience to capture small transformations of human character in American settings from Arizona’s Sonora Desert to the icy streets of Washington, D.C. Through elegies, character sketches, and lyric and narrative evocations of family and place, Pape offers lucid and startling poems that bridge the spaces between the past and the present, men and women, and urban and rural landscapes.

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Kelsey Fitzpatrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Flamingo combines the mysterious metaphor of nature and vague emotional language. It was quite difficult to depict what emotion Pape was trying to portray throughout the book. His metaphoric demeanor allows readers of all shapes and sizes to connect with his poetry. Majestically, he ties several elements of nature into his poems. Writing about anything from a creek he once visited to a comparative piece about Audubon and a racetrack. Although he is a man of few words he eloquently describes life events and memories with metaphorical phrases throughout American Flamingo.

[Bryan Brunati · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not my favorite collection of poems that I have read, "American Flamingo" by Greg Pape certainly has it's moments. Nature and the unnoticed side of earth is given notice as Pape paints beautiful pictures with his words about the images he sees in the world. Like a piece of art, he allows the reader to step back and enjoy the images that we sometimes take for granted. While some poems seem boring, Pape makes up for it with poems that ignite the mind.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am too broke right now so I got this from the school library. I'm 99% sure it is the next book I'll buy - and I don't typically go out and buy books I've read on borrowed time. (Just records.)