The Tame Magpie

by Paul Violi

Overview

Poetry. These are Paul Violi's last poems, found among his papers after his death and never previously published in a book. They were edited by Charles North and Tony Towle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934909409
Publisher:	Hanging Loose Press
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Born in New York City in 1944, Paul Violi grew up on Green Lawn, Long Island. After earning his BA in English literature at Boston University, Violi traveled to Nigeria to conduct surveys for the Peace Corps. The author of eleven volumes of poetry, Violi lived with his family in Putnam Valley, New York, and taught at New York University. He passed away in April 2011.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/28/2014
In this posthumous collection, his 14th, Violi (Overnight) remains as vibrant as ever, imploring readers in the titular poem to "Consider the goldfinch who feeds on thorn/ And thistle yet sings a lovely song." With formal innovation and endless wit, Violi delivers lyrical lines that leave one "Afloat in the same place, hour after hour," like "Blossoms and vultures wrapped in the same/ White whirling minute." Even when he's at his most satirical it's impossible to overlook the "Little beauties and what-not," for in these poems it's practically guaranteed that "a surprise or two/ Will ignite an idle hour." Aside from "Heap" (a massive pile of text outlining Violi's exhaustive work history) and the 16 hilarious "Further I.D.'s," the collection features work that is fragmentary but nevertheless so keenly attuned to the minutia of everyday life "That if crooners changed one word, form/ And sense would collapse at their feet." Though the book lacks cohesion, "It's the impurities that give color to the flames," and the poems exude the contentedness of a man in the final months of a joyful life. As with so many of Violi's poems, the reader is left with the sense that "Hope ascends, a strand of smoke wrenching itself into a lily." (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly