The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems
A haunting and intimately observed new collection from David St. John, a poet of soaring imagination and passionate candor

In The Last Troubadour, David St. John has given us a collection of new and selected poems of astonishing beauty, precise and keenly observed but also touched with sensuality and deep feeling. Nothing is too small to escape notice (in “Guitar” St. John reflects on the beauty of that word) or too large to be explored-the suicide of a friend, the illness of a lover, or the texture of longing and desire. A sharp observer of landscapes within and without, St. John directs his empathetic gaze and vivid, inventive voice to investigating both the darkest and the most inspiring parts of being human, the small moments between friends and lovers as well as the groundswells that alter lives.

 At times lyrical, sometimes conversational, occasionally wry and playful, St. John’s poetry reveals an expansive vision animated by “intimacy and subtlety, and by a disturbing force, the work of an urgent sensibility and a true ear.” (W.S. Merwin) The beauty, music, and artistry of David St. John’s widely admired work is fully on display in this masterful collection.

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The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems
A haunting and intimately observed new collection from David St. John, a poet of soaring imagination and passionate candor

In The Last Troubadour, David St. John has given us a collection of new and selected poems of astonishing beauty, precise and keenly observed but also touched with sensuality and deep feeling. Nothing is too small to escape notice (in “Guitar” St. John reflects on the beauty of that word) or too large to be explored-the suicide of a friend, the illness of a lover, or the texture of longing and desire. A sharp observer of landscapes within and without, St. John directs his empathetic gaze and vivid, inventive voice to investigating both the darkest and the most inspiring parts of being human, the small moments between friends and lovers as well as the groundswells that alter lives.

 At times lyrical, sometimes conversational, occasionally wry and playful, St. John’s poetry reveals an expansive vision animated by “intimacy and subtlety, and by a disturbing force, the work of an urgent sensibility and a true ear.” (W.S. Merwin) The beauty, music, and artistry of David St. John’s widely admired work is fully on display in this masterful collection.

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The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems

The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems

by David St. John
The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems

The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems

by David St. John

Paperback(Reprint)

$15.99 
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Overview

A haunting and intimately observed new collection from David St. John, a poet of soaring imagination and passionate candor

In The Last Troubadour, David St. John has given us a collection of new and selected poems of astonishing beauty, precise and keenly observed but also touched with sensuality and deep feeling. Nothing is too small to escape notice (in “Guitar” St. John reflects on the beauty of that word) or too large to be explored-the suicide of a friend, the illness of a lover, or the texture of longing and desire. A sharp observer of landscapes within and without, St. John directs his empathetic gaze and vivid, inventive voice to investigating both the darkest and the most inspiring parts of being human, the small moments between friends and lovers as well as the groundswells that alter lives.

 At times lyrical, sometimes conversational, occasionally wry and playful, St. John’s poetry reveals an expansive vision animated by “intimacy and subtlety, and by a disturbing force, the work of an urgent sensibility and a true ear.” (W.S. Merwin) The beauty, music, and artistry of David St. John’s widely admired work is fully on display in this masterful collection.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780062640949
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: 04/10/2018
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 192
Sales rank: 784,972
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

David St. John is the author of eleven collections of poetry (including Study for the World’s Body, nominated for the National Book Award in poetry) as well as a volume of essays, interviews, and reviews titled Where the Angels Come Toward Us. A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, he is University Professor and chair of the English Department at the University of Southern California, and lives in Venice Beach, California.

Table of Contents

I Selected Poems (1976-2012)

Slow Dance 3

Iris 7

Dolls 9

Gin 11

Hush 13

The Shore 14

Blue Waves 17

The Avenues 19

Guitar 21

Elegy 22

The Boathouse 24

Hotel Sierra 26

Song Without Forgiveness 30

Until the Sea Is Dead 31

A Hard & Noble Patience 37

The Day of the Sentry 38

Desire 40

The Reef 41

Woman & Leopard 42

Shadow 46

Meridian 47

The Swan at Sheffield Park 49

The Man in the Yellow Gloves 55

Leap of Faith 63

Terraces of Rain 64

Last Night with Rafaella 66

I Know 69

Lucifer in Starlight 70

Merlin 73

The Figure You 75

Night 76

Rhapsody 77

Chevalier d'Or 78

Stories 79

Red Wheat: Montana 80

Beeches 81

The Park 82

The Red Leaves of Night 83

The Aurora of the New Mind 84

Gypsy Davy's Flute of Rain 86

The Aurora of the Lost Dulcimer 88

Late Oracle Sonnet 89

In the High Country 90

From a Bridge 91

Without Mercy, the Rains Continued 92

Hungry Ghost 93

Creque Alley 96

Reckless Wing 98

The Empty Frame 99

The Auroras 104

II The Way It Is (New Poems)

Where He Came Down 119

Hot Night in Akron 120

The Way It Is 122

When My Baby Rocks the Funk 123

The One Who Should Write My Elegy Is Dead 124

Vineyard 125

Lucky 127

Generation 130

The Last Troubadour 132

Alexandr Blok 133

To a Story 134

My Life as Sandoz Mescaline 136

Evangeline & Her Sisters 137

An Ecclesiastical Sketchbook 138

Above Sunset 140

Backstreets 141

Equivalents 142

Aperture 144

Emanations 146

The Darkroom 154

The Stones of Venice 155

Silver & Black 156

Pasternak & the Snowy Heron 158

In Bangkok 159

Little Sur 160

To Those Who Have Asked Anna 161

Damian's Tale 162

The Old Wave 164

The Black Jaguar 165

Script for the Lost Reflection 166

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