Library Journal review of Fire to Fire

Karla Huston - Library Journal

In this long-awaited book, Doty (Still Life with Oysters and Lemon) combines new poems with the best of his previous volumes. His narrative style is expansive, filled with what has been described as a "lyric glitter" that creates radiance around the ordinary. Like a good storyteller, he sets the scene in spaces that might include cityscapes and country roads with romping dogs. Like Whitman, Doty is often elegiac and brazenly American in his topics. Frequently, his poems explore "a larger dark," the difficulty of being human in a world that doesn't glisten-unless you're willing to look for it. His new poems are filled with apparitions-the ghost of Berryman eating alone in a diner, in another, the ghost of Whitman himself reclining on pillows. Some explore theories, large enough to incorporate multiple points of view, small enough to include grackles singing poetically in trees. He says, "Any small thing can save you"-like the pipistrelle whose small song only he can hear. Doty explores the way the world can shine and illuminate the importance of a soul doing the good work of living: "Suppose we could iridesce,/ like these, and lose ourselves/ entirely in the universe,/ of shimmer-would you want/ to be yourself only?" Highly recommended.


				Mark Doty *Library Journal review of Fire to Fire*



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		Karla Huston - Library Journal In this long-awaited book, Doty (Still Life with Oysters and Lemon) combines new poems with the best of his previous volumes. His narrative style is expansive, filled with what has been described as a "lyric glitter" that creates radiance around the ordinary. Like a good storyteller, he sets the scene in spaces that might include cityscapes and country roads with romping dogs. Like Whitman, Doty is often elegiac and brazenly American in his topics. Frequently, his poems explore "a larger dark," the difficulty of being human in a world that doesn't glisten-unless you're willing to look for it. His new poems are filled with apparitions-the ghost of Berryman eating alone in a diner, in another, the ghost of Whitman himself reclining on pillows. Some explore theories, large enough to incorporate multiple points of view, small enough to include grackles singing poetically in trees. He says, "Any small thing can save you"-like the pipistrelle whose small song only he can hear. Doty explores the way the world can shine and illuminate the importance of a soul doing the good work of living: "Suppose we could iridesce,/ like these, and lose ourselves/ entirely in the universe,/ of shimmer-would you want/ to be yourself only?" Highly recommended.







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