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Long Lens
“Peter Makuck sees through the detritus of daily life to what matters. . . . It’s that essence that lives deep in things, looked for in people, sea- and landscapes, and creatures, that lifts the quotidian toward the marvelous, and animates this selection of poems from four decades.”—Brendan Galvin
From "Long Lens":
Folding laundry, I can see our clothesline
waving its patches of color like the flag
of a foreign country where I had happily lived
in a small clapboard house surrounded by pines.
I can hear my mother in her strong accent
saying she didn’t want a dryer
even when we could finally afford one—
Our sheets won’t smell of trees and sunlight anymore.
Long Lens represents forty years of Peter Makuck’s work, including twenty-five new poems. With precise language, Makuck’s imagery evokes spiritual longing, love, loss, violence, and transcendence. His subjects include the aftermath of the 1970 killings at Kent State University; scuba diving on an offshore shipwreck; flying through a storm in a small plane; rescuing a boy caught in a riptide; and lucid observations of spinner sharks, a gray fox, a spider, and a pelican tangled in a fishing line.
Peter Makuck taught at East Carolina University from 1976 to 2006, and founded Tar River Poetry. He was 2008 Lee Smith Chair in Creative Writing at NC State University. Winner of the Brockman Award and the Charity Randall Citation, he lives on Bogue Banks, one of North Carolina’s barrier islands.
The Cortland Review:
“The easy-going manner...of these poems should not blinker us to the fact that they are also polished and load-bearing when they seem least to be. In fact, it is as accomplished for what it doesn’t do, as for what it does... it’s formally adroit without being arty, and its manner invites the reader without manipulation.
From "Long Lens":
Folding laundry, I can see our clothesline
waving its patches of color like the flag
of a foreign country where I had happily lived
in a small clapboard house surrounded by pines.
I can hear my mother in her strong accent
saying she didn’t want a dryer
even when we could finally afford one—
Our sheets won’t smell of trees and sunlight anymore.
Long Lens represents forty years of Peter Makuck’s work, including twenty-five new poems. With precise language, Makuck’s imagery evokes spiritual longing, love, loss, violence, and transcendence. His subjects include the aftermath of the 1970 killings at Kent State University; scuba diving on an offshore shipwreck; flying through a storm in a small plane; rescuing a boy caught in a riptide; and lucid observations of spinner sharks, a gray fox, a spider, and a pelican tangled in a fishing line.
Peter Makuck taught at East Carolina University from 1976 to 2006, and founded Tar River Poetry. He was 2008 Lee Smith Chair in Creative Writing at NC State University. Winner of the Brockman Award and the Charity Randall Citation, he lives on Bogue Banks, one of North Carolina’s barrier islands.
The Cortland Review:
“The easy-going manner...of these poems should not blinker us to the fact that they are also polished and load-bearing when they seem least to be. In fact, it is as accomplished for what it doesn’t do, as for what it does... it’s formally adroit without being arty, and its manner invites the reader without manipulation.
200 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2010
About the author
Peter Makuck
19 books15 followersPeter Makuck is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at East Carolina University. He is the author of Long Lens: New and Selected Poems and two collections of short stories, Breaking and Entering and Costly Habits. His poems, stories, and essays have appeared in the Georgia Review, Hudson Review, Poetry, Sewanee Review, the Nation, and Gettysburg Review.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 14, 2018
Apparently, April is Poetry Month, so I decided to read a book of poetry. Maybe it is best to read one a day when reading a poetry collection, but I was sick, so doing a lot of lazing about, and read this in 3 days.
It was great. I don't know a lot about poetry, but I enjoyed this collection. I found it to be pretty straight forward and easy to understand. Macuck paints places and events vividly so that I could see and feel much of what he wrote about.
I liked most of this collection. The first one that really stood out for me was Prey, about the Redtail hawk grabbing the squirrel. Sounds gruesome, but it wasn't. Others that I liked a lot: Into the Frame, Tight, Valentine, Trafficking with Voices, and two about cats, of all things, A Sense of the Other Side and Catlight.
And this snippet:
"but this is how you coaxed us
from ourselves to the enlargements
of philosophy and art -
the first for learning how to die, you said
(laughing, of course),
the second for learning how to see."
-from Tangier Island
If I believe all that he writes, Macuck has lived a very diverse life and is accomplished in many areas. I looked up some words and places. His use of these words did not feel forced or affected, but just part of his life and learning.
Again, I didn't record where the recommendation for this book came from. Wherever that was, I'm glad I paid attention. I actually bought the book - Amazon or eBay - because my library didn't have it and I'm glad I did.
The only profanity is the use of the 's' word when describing excrement a couple of times. The last section contains a few poems about dressing animals.
It was great. I don't know a lot about poetry, but I enjoyed this collection. I found it to be pretty straight forward and easy to understand. Macuck paints places and events vividly so that I could see and feel much of what he wrote about.
I liked most of this collection. The first one that really stood out for me was Prey, about the Redtail hawk grabbing the squirrel. Sounds gruesome, but it wasn't. Others that I liked a lot: Into the Frame, Tight, Valentine, Trafficking with Voices, and two about cats, of all things, A Sense of the Other Side and Catlight.
And this snippet:
"but this is how you coaxed us
from ourselves to the enlargements
of philosophy and art -
the first for learning how to die, you said
(laughing, of course),
the second for learning how to see."
-from Tangier Island
If I believe all that he writes, Macuck has lived a very diverse life and is accomplished in many areas. I looked up some words and places. His use of these words did not feel forced or affected, but just part of his life and learning.
Again, I didn't record where the recommendation for this book came from. Wherever that was, I'm glad I paid attention. I actually bought the book - Amazon or eBay - because my library didn't have it and I'm glad I did.
The only profanity is the use of the 's' word when describing excrement a couple of times. The last section contains a few poems about dressing animals.
June 23, 2018
This was a nice collection by a poet I'd never heard of before my mom logged this one as read. Loved the voice as I felt I really got to know this poet. Lots of nice wisdom and observations. Most of the poems felt really accessible—not like some poems you read where you feel like the poet doesn't WANT you to know what they're talking about. Lots of nature poems, ocean/seaside poems, bird poems, and people poems. Some really neat stories that worked great in poetry form. Finished this collection at Whiting campground of Maple canyon, the perfect setting for a book with such respect and reverence for nature.
April 19, 2017
I am not a poetry fan. I find it overly dramatic and have no patience in discovering hidden meanings or dissecting flowery descriptions. However, I grew to appreciate this poetry book – Long Lens by Peter Makuck. His poems are stories, told simply in few, well-chosen words. I found the words easy to read and the messages easy to follow. As I read, I could almost hear Peter Makuck’s voice next to me, reciting these poems. His voice was very clear through all the poems.
This particular book, Long Lens, is a collection of poems by Peter Makuck that he has written over the years. The earliest poems date back to 1987. I was very surprised to see that his voice didn’t change too much in the book. There was a tiny difference in the quality of the poems throughout, but Peter Makuck’s writing voice was always true to himself and was essentially unchanging. I found that steadying in this book and it increased Peter Makuck’s credibility in my eyes.
In Long Lens, there is a wide variety of poems of different subjects. There is a poem for everyone. I found particular liking and love for the poem “Running.” He describes flashbacks of his time running, with the coach yelling and him getting a cold stretch on the south side of the track. I love the way he personifies the track, saying “The track lies below me - / that grave green mouth, those hard black lips.” Peter Makuck is a master of telling stories through poetry and using just the right amount of description, action, and emotion to make his poems memorable.
This particular book, Long Lens, is a collection of poems by Peter Makuck that he has written over the years. The earliest poems date back to 1987. I was very surprised to see that his voice didn’t change too much in the book. There was a tiny difference in the quality of the poems throughout, but Peter Makuck’s writing voice was always true to himself and was essentially unchanging. I found that steadying in this book and it increased Peter Makuck’s credibility in my eyes.
In Long Lens, there is a wide variety of poems of different subjects. There is a poem for everyone. I found particular liking and love for the poem “Running.” He describes flashbacks of his time running, with the coach yelling and him getting a cold stretch on the south side of the track. I love the way he personifies the track, saying “The track lies below me - / that grave green mouth, those hard black lips.” Peter Makuck is a master of telling stories through poetry and using just the right amount of description, action, and emotion to make his poems memorable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews