Images of work and the rituals of daily life. Philosophy-art and not psychology-is the abundance of keenly observed details,

Open warfare: these are the opposing forces that animate his beautiful, Home and exile, memory and loss, insight and bafflement, a fragile peace and Long meditation on such central human questions. Unsafe? How will they locate themselves in the world?ġ988, Dennis Nurkse has given us ten books of poetry that might be read as a There's a window or a mirror in which time is passing:īusiness of The City: labor, commerce, celebration, distraction, devotion,īetrayal, conflict. Are the lovers safe or unsafe? Is their love safe or In a room that's theirs or not theirs-in a city that'sįamiliar or foreign.

Self-pity, / and an unknown force has been knitting me backĪnd here's how Jody Bolz responded to Dennis' new book this past spring when introducing him at The Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for a celebration of Poet Lore's 124th birthday:īook, A Night in Brooklyn, one scene reappears with the intimacyĪnd eeriness of a recurring dream. Two lovers lie together (and separate) Human–remain mysteries: 'All my life I have been dying, of hope and Those closest to us, those we love and care for and who-because they are That deepest voice we hear rarely if ever and then only in poems, the voice of The voiceīehind these poems is certainly Nurkse's, but more often than not I feel it's ' from 'Twilight inĬanarsie,' which finally gets the poem it deserves. Store front churches / where voices adored the living God while tambourinesĬlashed a little behind the beat. Inclusive: 'In these long slant-lit streets, she says, / you will findįactories that once made shoehorns, / waffle irons, or pearl cuff links and Possesses the ability to employ the language of our American streets, shops,īars, factories, and any place else and construct truly lyrical poems, Him on home territory-he was for a time the Poet Laureate ofīrooklyn-he should be the laureate of the Western Hemisphere. A Night in Brooklyn, his newest collection, finds Poet who could and recently did publish a better book, the same D. Nurkse's last collection of poems, The Border Kingdom, I told myself there was no one in Most recently, A Night in Brooklyn elicited this from Philip Levine:Īfter I read D. With what's possible, what's unexpected, in this human world made ofĮstablish his as a major voice in American poetry. The light of the voice, its intimate encounters with others, with the self, When in his poems, we find ourselves awash in between a poem you remember and a person you recall? You want lamps toĭennis Nurkse turns on lamps. Your memory, you, you, what’s the difference. Poem must act upon you in a way that resembles a human encounter. Poem coherently expresses the presence of a human creature. Rights issues, and was elected to the board of directors of Amnesty Nurkse also works for human rights organizations, writing on human The Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing, and Rikers Island Correctionalįacility. Hokin Prize from Poetry, grants from the National Endowment for theĪrts, and a Tanne Foundation Award. He's received a Whiting Writers' Award, the Bess His Estonian father worked for the League of Nations in ViennaĪnd his mother was an artist before escaping Nazi Europe during World War IIĪnd settling in New York. Dennis Nurkse is the author of ten collections of poetry, mostĪ.

Uulfred the unliving