The Little Field of Self

by Doreen Gildroy

Overview

Set in a castle and on its grounds in Brittany, The Little Field of Self is one long poem comprised of individual poems that articulate the essence of devotion and the conflict within the devoted. With surprising inventiveness and technical skill, and without ornamentation, self-consciousness, or self-display, Doreen Gildroy has forged an original poetic style that renders inner being authentically and convincingly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226293295
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	04/02/2002
Series:	Phoenix Poets
Edition description:	1
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Doreen Gildroy lives in Irvine, California. Her poems have appeared in magazines such as American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, and TriQuarterly, among others. This is her first book.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Dung Beetle
The Little Field of Self
In My Own Language
A Rewriting of the Shore
If All I Do Today Is Change
Two Figures
You Take Me to Where
Guile
Oh Let Me Be Quiet and Near
Acedia
This Is the Voice of this Life
Diapause
Light Against the Wall
Silva
Theology
Eating Apricots
Coda
New World
Lying on the Bed with the Window Open
Odd Pieces
Passion
Rain
What Was It?
A Mild Turning of the Earth
Abbey
Stereoscope
While You Were Away
Epigraph
Catalogue of Notebooks
If I Could Ask You
Afterword

Editorial Reviews

Set, the back cover tells us, "in a castle and on its grounds in Brittany," this book-length serial poem in page-length lyric parts uses short lines to convey the inwardness produced by leisure: "A restless night. Now, lying in bed with the murmur of rain after a day not too complicated. (We had decided not to go out.)" The stanza breaks there, but readers treading upon this guarded field will find the rain gentle and the grass well-cared-for throughout, as Gildroy's speaker finds "What my constants are, an evenness, a power." Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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