Down and Up: Poems

by Clarence Major

Overview

In Down and Up, Clarence Major makes use of American and European public places, their character and voice, to construct poems that explore the physical world juxtaposed sharply with the inner world. Sometimes realistic, sometimes dreamlike, these poems are dynamic, universal in theme, and acknowledge a debt to the great tradition of modern American poetry. Clear eyed and painterly, they explore wherever Major’s fancy takes him. His distinctive voice and compelling spatial and visual approach offer a connection between everyday human occurrences and the physical space they surround.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820345949
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	10/01/2013
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

CLARENCE MAJOR is a prizewinning poet, painter, and novelist. He is the author of thirteen previous books of poetry. As a finalist for a National Book Award he won a bronze medal for his book Configurations: New and Selected Poems, 1958–1998. Among other awards he is also the recipient of a National Council on the Arts Award, a New York Cultural Foundation Award, and the Stephen Henderson Poetry Award for Outstanding Achievement, all three for poetry. His poetry has appeared in hundreds of anthologies and periodicals, in English and in foreign languages. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Davis.

CLARENCE MAJOR is a prizewinning poet, painter, and novelist. He is the author of thirteen previous books of poetry. As a finalist for a National Book Award he won a bronze medal for his book Configurations: New and Selected Poems, 1958–1998. Among other awards he is also the recipient of a National Council on the Arts Award, a New York Cultural Foundation Award, and the Stephen Henderson Poetry Award for Outstanding Achievement, all three for poetry. His poetry has appeared in hundreds of anthologies and periodicals, in English and in foreign languages. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Davis.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Writing Poetry 1

Bride Stripped Bare 2

The Forgiven Knife 3

Down and Up 4

The Forest 6

Spring and All 7

On Vacation 8

Subject for a Ballad 9

We Have Yet 10

At the Movies 11

The Hand 13

The Rope 14

Time and Objects 16

Summer Afternoon 17

Houses 18

When We Lived in Boulder 20

Camping 21

You Are Smiling at Yourself in the Mirror 22

Wolf 23

Calm Waters 24

1596 25

Fear and the City 26

Rain 27

Smoke 28

In China 29

Don't Slam the Door on Your Way Out 30

Self and Self 31

Father 32

Your Sister 33

Your Aunt 34

The Mall: 50% Off Day 35

The Tourist 36

The Longing 37

Girl Spinning 38

The Unknown 39

Urgent Care 40

Surrey 41

Bronze 42

Sky and Marble 43

Clawing 44

Together 45

Evening Newspaper 46

Rush Hour 47

The Argument 48

Early Bird 49

Strangers on the Train 50

Cyclops 51

Perfume 52

On Watching a Caterpillar Become a Butterfly 53

Le Port Nice 55

This Is Becoming a Trend 56

El Greco Comes Home 57

Color of the Wind 58

Editorial Reviews

I love the stark contrasts that run throughout Down and Up and the piercing images that so often cinch the poems’ endings. They remind me that Major is also a painter, someone with such a vivid sense of how narrative and impulse inhabit the visual realm and who is quite readily capable of carrying them into impeccable language.

author of Life on Mars - Tracy K. Smith

Clarence Major has written a collection of poetry that celebrates being human. Small moments expand into treatises of love and doubt, life and art, and it all seems so natural. Here’s a poet who has mastered a language he owns through personal rhythm, and he knows what it takes to transcend. Down and Up is shaped under the pressure of living and dreaming with one’s eyes opened.

author of The Chameleon Couch - Yusef Komunyakaa

Down and Up celebrates what it means to be human with moments that explore love, doubt, life and art. With distinctive language and rich imagery, the poems take the reader on a rhythmic journey through the various realities of the human experience. At the same time, they demonstrate a wide and deep understanding of the American story, including its music, mythology, history and heartache.

Davis Enterprise

“Clarence Major has written a collection of poetry that celebrates being human. Small moments expand into treatises of love and doubt, life and art, and it all seems so natural. Here’s a poet who has mastered a language he owns through personal rhythm, and he knows what it takes to transcend. Down and Up is shaped under the pressure of living and dreaming with one’s eyes opened.” —Yusef Komunyakaa, author of The Chameleon Couch

“I love the stark contrasts that run throughout Down and Up and the piercing images that so often cinch the poems’ endings. They remind me that Major is also a painter, someone with such a vivid sense of how narrative and impulse inhabit the visual realm and who is quite readily capable of carrying them into impeccable language.”—Tracy K. Smith, author of Life on Mars

"Down and Up celebrates what it means to be human with moments that explore love, doubt, life and art. With distinctive language and rich imagery, the poems take the reader on a rhythmic journey through the various realities of the human experience. At the same time, they demonstrate a wide and deep understanding of the American story, including its music, mythology, history and heartache."—Davis Enterprise

From the Publisher