Mercy Seat

by Bruce Smith

Bruce Smith's new collection of poems presents a formidable vision of growing up "white male North American" in the fifties and sixties. With poems whose subjects range from football to politics to jazz, Mercy Seat is a book by a native son who has survived the brokenness of his country to sing a paradoxical new song for a new age.

Genres: Poetry

55 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 1994

Reviews

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me this book was equally difficult and wonderful. I had to work at understanding Smith's language and imagery, and don't know how close I came, but the effort was well worth it. Even the most elusive passages were arresting. As my high school English teacher used to say, "Always be reading at least one thing that stretches you, and remember: It's not a bad thing to have finished a book and only understood about half of it."