The Fall: Poems

by D. Nurkse

In this elegant collection, D. Nurkse elegizes a lost father, a foreshortened childhood, and
a young marriage. From the drenched lawns of suburbia to the streets of Brooklyn, he delivers up the small but crucial epiphanies that propel an American coming-of-age and chronicles the development of a tender yet exacting consciousness. As the diversions of childhood prefigure the heartbreak of adulthood, Nurkse captures the exquisite sadness of each small “fall” that carries us further from our early innocence. In the book’s final section, the poet turns to face mortality with a series of stirring poems about illness in midlife. Throughout, Nurkse celebrates the sheer strangeness of our perceptions in a language that is both astute and surpassingly lyrical.

Genres: Poetry

113 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

D. (Dennis) Nurkse is the author of eight books of poetry. He has received the Whiting Writers’ Award, two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, two grants from the New York State Foundation for the Arts, and other awards. He has also written widely on human rights.

Reviews

[Peycho Kanev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initials

We’d been drawing in chalk,
surprised they would allow us
to sign the world.
We made the grid for a game,
a ladder to paradise.
I wrote her name.
She entered mine.
I inscribed a heart, she the date.
We’d been given everything:
the little dusty box,
the road stretching
all the way to the neighbor’s house,
the threshold, the invisible watcher,
the huge hour until sunset.

The Gift

I cradled that brimming bedpan
and tiptoed as with a sleeping child
toward the toilet at E-13
so the nurse would not comment
on color, odor, and consistency.
Where the stripe in the lino forks
I met you taking your first steps
under orders from the master surgeon
to reach the power doors and return
in under ten minutes—it wouldn’t count
unless you actually touched them:
as we passed I felt I was bringing you
a great gift, life
overflowing in its abundance,
though I knew at any moment
the nurse would come running
to wipe away the trail of drops.

[Kasandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate Nurkse's contemplative and questioning manner, his curious language and unique imagery. Much of his work leaves me mystified, but my bafflement is leavened by the sense that these are impressions of what it means to be a spiritual being having a physical experience. These are luminous and melancholy at the same time, and though I can't say I completely understand them, I still enjoyed the book. A poet's poet, I think, for sure.

[b · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

[Tom Romig · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, too cryptic. For you, perhaps something entirely different!

[Mike Soto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-reading this could add another star...