Winter Stars

I was really shocked to find out what a talented author Levis was. He's really a HUGE talent, even if you really don't care for poetry.

Levis has a way of writing about himself but connecting to the reader, and is an extremely gifted poet. The poems are devastatingly surprising, the language fresh, the imagery sharp. In `Poet at 17' Levis captures well the energetic recklessness and immortal feeling of youth, and juxtaposes it in perfect contrast to the fearful stasis of adulthood. I notice by the second poem the idiosyncratic use of & for and. I didn't notice it at first, so he employs it naturally and stamps himself into the poems. Levis has a place in history as a poet.

In Winter Stars, Larry Levis covers death, relationships and his life with a poetic power that is rarely found in modern poetry. These poems include reflections on the poet's childhood, elegies to his father, and observations on the human condition. But the most powerful poems deal with male/female relationships, especially those which have become strained or have ended. Among the relationship poems are "After the Blue Note Closes" and "My Story in a Late Style of Fire." The first is an eloquent and sad portayal of a man who is with one woman but thinking of another. The latter is a masterpiece. "My Story," with its long lines and intimate tone, almost seems like a psalm--a psalm of disappointment and hope, loss and need. A must have for anyone studying late twentieth century poetry.