Woodslane | Book - 9780911198898

Academic Inspection Copy

The Spine

ISBN-13: 9780911198898
Publisher: PURDUE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Imprint: PURDUE UNIVERSITY PRESS
By Michael Spence
Price: AUD $23.99
Stock: 0 in stock
Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
Local release date: 30/03/1988
Format: Paperback 60 pages Weight: 172g
Categories: Poetry [DC]

Description
Author Biography
Reviews
Google Preview: Isolation and transformation are the central themes of The Spine: isolation caused by death,alien landscapes, and lost ideals; and the transformation, for good or ill, ofthose this isolation reaches. The people and creatures in "The Ones Consumed"become absorbed - figuratively or literally - by the world around them. Thoughthe absorption often destroys them, the section opens and closes with poemswhich reveal that there can be compensation and justice in the process."Separate States" deals with the experiences of those who findthemselves cut off from the lives most familiar to them. This separationresults in their gaining knowledge stronger and deeper than the kind offered bythe surfaces of the commonplace. Isolation has more severe physical andemotional consequences for the people of the poems in "Scars of WhatTouches." Even when someone chooses isolation, as in the final poem of thesection, the presence of the outside world forces itself past the barrierserected against its intrusion. The last section, "Shaped by Shells andjourneys," is peopled by those who find reason for hope, even though theinnocence of an earlier age has vanished for them. They accept the limitationthat the only part of their world they can truly change is themselves, and thisreleases them from the isolation which wounds or destroys so many in the earliersections. It is thus that the final poem transforms a scene of unthinkingdevastation into one where the poet alters the way he will live from that timeon.; Michael Spence earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Washington in 1974. He then served four years as a naval officer aboard the USS John F. Kennedy. On completing his hitch, he returned to Seattle. In 1987, Spence was a fellow at the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, and his poem "The Right Way to Escape from a Sinking Ship," which appears in The Spine, won the Mary Elinor Smith Poetry Prize. His work has been published in many journals, magazines, and anthologies, including Editor's Choice II: Poetry, Fiction & Art from the U.S Small Press (1978-1983); Poetry; The American Scholar; The Chariton Review; Shenandoah; Quarterly West; and 15 Seattle Book.; Ultimately, The Spineexplores the feeling of seclusion that many people feel at some time in their lives. By addressing a wide variety of subjects and situations using the skillful language and turns of phrase that make a solid poet, Spence enchants us not only with the extraordinary, but with the ordinary as well."The Bellingham Review; Google Preview content

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The Spine