
Dreamless and Possible
Poems New and Selected
Christopher Howell(Author)
University of Washington Press
Published on 7. March 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
238 pages
978-0-295-99287-7 (ISBN)
Description
This generous volume of new and selected poems by Christopher Howell encompasses three decades of his distinguished work, drawing upon all of his previous books. Dreamless and Possible chronicles his wide range of interests, expressed by blending elements of the surreal with biography, imagist economy with a storyteller's informality. It also shows the development of his signature style, reflected, as poet Albert Goldbarth has written, in poems "connected by deep thought worn lightly, and by large vision writ in small details."
These are poems of palpable force. Howell thinks out loud as he works his way through what charms, challenges, and defines the human project. He questions, tests images and associations, and leaps, trusting himself, into midair. In consequence, the cerebral energy propels his poems beyond statement and into startlingly evocative modes, grappling with and sifting profound matters of memory, imagination, and grief, tempered always by joy.
These are poems of palpable force. Howell thinks out loud as he works his way through what charms, challenges, and defines the human project. He questions, tests images and associations, and leaps, trusting himself, into midair. In consequence, the cerebral energy propels his poems beyond statement and into startlingly evocative modes, grappling with and sifting profound matters of memory, imagination, and grief, tempered always by joy.
Reviews / Votes
". . . gleans the Spokane resident's best work from eight books and his haunting new work."- Mike Dillon (City Living) "There are stable frames of reference in his poems, but he's good for a substantial surprise almost every time....Those who seek Howell's book out will find a poet who over time has grown more and more comfortable with surprising word choices, comparisons, and lists. He's so sure the force of his narratives will carry the reader through to the end, so sure the feelings that come through in his poems are real and undeniable, he can risk what looks at first like irrelevance...."
(Constant Critic) "Over the last three decades, Howell's poetry has deepened yet lost none of its quicksilver movement where the quotidian and eternal play tag."
(City Living)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Seattle
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 124 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
322 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-295-99287-7 (9780295992877)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Christopher Howell is professor of English and creative writing at Eastern Washington University.