The Continuous Life

I gave this book the desert isle test; would I want it on a desert island if my library were limited to 100 American poetry books from 1990 and since. The answer is yes, this is Strand's best, it honors beauty as only the most refined aesthete could do. In these pages you will find Strand's quivalents [my equivocal way of saying `equivalents'] to "Ode on Melancholy" and Stevens's "Sunday Morning" and "Comedian as the Letter C." In a word, this is an elegant volume, as elegant as it is romantic.

At the very least, Mark Strand is one of the most readable poets around. He's neither too obscure nor too obvious, and if his example were more widely followed then contemporary poetry might find a sizable audience. The poem "The Continuous Life" says everything that needs saying about the joys, hopes, fears, tensions, and emptiness of middle-class existence--or perhaps just plain human existence--and note how well the cascading rhythm matches its theme. It reminded me of James Salter's novel "Light Years," but Strand manages to compress his vision into a mere 28 lines. As an observer of the human comedy, he's quite perceptive.My only major complaint with this volume is the somewhat repetitive subject matter--there is too much musing about the Nature of Art, too many descriptions of verdant scenery. Considering this was his first volume of original poetry in at least 10 years, we could have reasonably expected a little more variety. Or perhaps I'm being churlish. Don't let me discourage you: read this book.

You can count the great american poets who are writing today on a thumbless hand with mark strand as the palm. The poem "The Continuous Life" has been refered to as the perfect poem and I've asked my grandchildren to read the final poem in the volume "The End" at my graveside. We need poetry as a people and as individuals and if you have the nature to hear and feel it,poetry is the only truth there is.

I highly recommend these poems! Experts will have their reasons for loving Strand. As for myself, I find them accessible, moving, musical, visual, and just flat out great to read. Forget "what they mean," this guy can write. But then, I also find them edifying in the same way that Ecclesiastes is edifying. Good stuff.