Theogony

by Douglas Rothschild

Poetry. "It's heartening--a complete relief, in fact--to finally have a lengthy tome from Douglas Rothschild, a poet whose independence and observational precision are, for me, unparalleled within the art. Rothschild is a poet of emphasis, analysis, opinion, argument, outrage, anguish, personality, friendship and deep feeling. His walking, talking line, freer within its various formal constraints (Dug is a master of the long poem made of short poems) than any surface-of-the-moment, sounds like no one else. This is a book of tremendous clarity, and I'm grateful for its existence"--Anselm Berrigan.

Genres: Poetry

210 pages

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Deborah Poe]

Favorite poems: "Further Along," "Beyond the Rector Gate," "Night Train," "The River Itself," "#923 And Now," "Do Not Open," "Fassbinder not Herzog," "Boy on Fence," "Girl in the the Dunes" (and these last two as a pair).

I did not care for The Minor Arcana section, which I found too didactic and less impressive in terms of craft. The line breaks in the first half of the book are great. These are poems with a political imperative. I felt many of them, and the Echologue--last "book" and an essay of sorts--very intensely. The book seems timely.

The River Itself

Not the detritus of some
non-civilization washed
up upon its shores.

Lights strung layer upon
layer. The sky lightening
even as the sun sets.

Beyond this horizon,
day after day, the same
melodrama played out.

Millions of lives, un-
fathomable indifference.

The waves splashing
against the shore with
the sound of crumpled

rice paper. Head lights
pass blindly, seeing
nothing, illuminating

nothing. Blindly calling
out, silently to one another:
SEE ME--HERE I COME

Beacons: --a breath of cold
damp air

GIRL IN THE DUNES

If you could talk
to god the way i
do, you'd see how
things really are

& you'd be happier
dreaming of America.
Then you ever were
living here.

[T.]

Favorite poems: "Further Along," "Beyond the Rector Gate," "Night Train," "The River Itself," "#923 And Now," "Do Not Open," "Fassbinder not Herzog," "Boy on Fence," "Girl in the the Dunes" (and these last two as a pair).

I did not care for The Minor Arcana section, which I found too didactic and less impressive in terms of craft. The line breaks in the first half of the book are great. These are poems with a political imperative. I felt many of them, and the Echologue--last "book" and an essay of sorts--very intensely. The book seems timely.

The River Itself

Not the detritus of some
non-civilization washed
up upon its shores.

Lights strung layer upon
layer. The sky lightening
even as the sun sets.

Beyond this horizon,
day after day, the same
melodrama played out.

Millions of lives, un-
fathomable indifference.

The waves splashing
against the shore with
the sound of crumpled

rice paper. Head lights
pass blindly, seeing
nothing, illuminating

nothing. Blindly calling
out, silently to one another:
SEE ME--HERE I COME

Beacons: --a breath of cold
damp air

GIRL IN THE DUNES

If you could talk
to god the way i
do, you'd see how
things really are

& you'd be happier
dreaming of America.
Then you ever were
living here.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is relatable for its WTF stance toward New York's embodiment of paranoid late capitalism. It is interesting that much of it was composed before 9/11, reminding us that changes to the city are not as abrupt and arbitrary as a single event, but part of a historical process. A great example of how to channel political convictions into amazing poetry.

[Magdalena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This made me wish that Douglas was better at keeping all his poems typed and in one place so that he would have many many books.

[Geof Huth · Rating 5 out of 5]

For full review, go here on dbqp: visualizing poetics.