Downsides of Fish Culture

by David Dodd Lee, Charles D'Ambrosio (Foreword)

The theme of lost innocence has been thoroughly explored since William Blake, but in his first book Lee gives this theme a contemporary edge. Lamenting his inability to make "anything tide [him] over until the next life," Lee's speaker captures the essence of a generation: the angst, the dysfunctions, and the tragedy "of our simple humanness?an evolutionary extension/ of what might become." Yet the poems do not fall into the trap of melodrama, instead projecting a ray of hope in a world in which "the barbed wire fence drip[s] blood." Many of the poems are ambitious without being overwritten. Lee knows when to hammer have a point and when to invoke humor. As a result, the speaker is able to "look back/ on those grub years with fondness." This volume of poetry belongs in every poetry collection.

Genres: Poetry

63 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

David Dodd Lee has published nine full-length books of poems and a chapbook. His newest book is a second book of Ashbery erasure poems, And Others, Vaguer Presences (BlazeVox, 2016). His first was Sky Booths in the Breath Somewhere, the Ashbery Erasure Poems (BlaxeVox 2010).He is also the author of Animalties (Four Way, 2014), The Coldest Winter on Earth (Marick Press, 2012), The Nervous Filaments (Four Way Books 2010), and Orphan, Indiana (University of Akron Press 2010), as well Abrupt Rural (New Issues), which was published in 2004. Recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Nation, West Branch,Jacket, Gulf Coast, Blackbird, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Pool, Denver Quarterly, Slope, Pleiades, Laurel Review, Nerve, and Massachusett's Review. He was the editor of the annual poetry and fiction anthology, SHADE, published by Four Way Books. Lee is also the publisher of Half Moon Bay poetry chapbooks, which include titles by Franz Wright and Hugh Seidman. In the past he has served as poetry editor at Third Coast and Passages North. He has worked as a park ranger, a fisheries technician, and a journalist. He received the MFA degree in 1993, after taking a BFA in painting and Art History in the eighties. He teaches creative writing and visual art at Indiana University South Bend.

Reviews

[Gerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book at a reading at The Detroit Opera House. I was fascinated with David's reading. He read a couple from this book that night. Good stuff.

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very sensual poems. Edgy, honest voice.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i know i'll re-read this many times. interesting metaphors. i'll be sure to check out more of his work!

[Amy Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a slow start here and hit a real stride several poems in, at which time the grit of this book, its conversation with sex and death (and fish), hit a mark for me that was confrontational, spooky, and rather enjoyable. As I reader, I felt aligned with the sometimes voyeuristic quality of the I's of these poems, and then one with their fatigue and wistfulness. I dug it.