ISBN: 0615909973

The poems in Carolyn Gregory's Facing the Music speak of dualities. A quote from the German romantic, Heinrich Heine, comes close to describing her message: "The world is split in two and… Mehr…

The poems in Carolyn Gregory's Facing the Music speak of dualities. A quote from the German romantic, Heinrich Heine, comes close to describing her message: "The world is split in two and the crack runs straight through my heart." Her book explores what it's like to feel these powerful words. "Rainbow and Bullets" starts out as a poem about the Summer of Love, then turns the camera around and zooms in on a vision of terror: "Our dreams walked on platforms of air,/sometimes celestial/until the tanks rolled next door." Addiction shows its fangs, threatening to strike in "The Jug" and "The Demon." Often a poem is philosophical and progressive, spiritual and profane simultaneously. Mature life cannot always be seen darkly. Gregory also writes with fondness about poets she knew personally, those who marked the lives of others in "The Poet and the Priest," The Holy Fool," and "January Women." She realizes, like Hamlet, that they are "the brief chronicles of the time." The title of Facing the Music looks back to the Depression tune: "There may be trouble ahead . . . Let's face the music and dance." Fortunately, Gregory's book also suggests how to resist. And how to rejoice. used books,books Books, Windmill Editions<