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The Visible Man: Poems
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.6
EAN: 9780374284480
ISBN: 0374284482
Label: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 80
Publication Date: October 05, 2005
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: October 05, 2005
Studio: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Editorial Review:
"To write what is human, not escapist," is Henri Cole's endeavor. In The Visible Man he pursues his aim by folding autobiography and memory into the thirty severe and fiercely truthful lyrics--poems presenting a constant tension between classical repose and the friction of life--that make up this exuberant book. This work, wrote Harold Bloom, "persuades me that Cole will be a central poet of his generation. The tradition of Wallace Stevens and Hart Crane is beautifully extended in The Visible Man, particularly in the magnificent sequence 'Apollo.' Keats and Hart Crane are presences here, and Henri Cole invokes them with true aesthetic dignity, which is the mark of nearly every poem in The Visible Man."
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - "Writing What Is Human"
[This book brief appeared March 11, 1999, in Seattle's "The Stranger" and can be found online at http://www.thestranger.com/1999-03-11/books2.html]
Cole does to the sonnet what postmodern consciousness does to the self--he wrenches it, shatters it, sucks it dry, turns it inside out, and sometimes, for a moment, holds it in a quiet embrace. The central problem of his book is knowledge, which made Apollo a god but divides us from ourselves. Cole seeks to unite body and mind in a self ... Read More
Rating: - Pretty good book
I ended up buying , reading, and actually liking this book, but not necessarily because of the poetry itself. Some of it's a bit bad, with clunky words and phrases that sometimes wander into seemingly unrelated vagueness, though some of the images and lines are really good. What I really like about this book is what Cole has to say: his feelings, struggles, and perspective on himself and the world around him. It's intense and powerful, just like some of the other reviews say.
Rating:  - A "must-read" poetry collection
I bought this book of poems after hearing a few friends talk about it and then reading all the good customer reviews here at Amazon. I have to say it really is an amazing book, and it really is one of the best books of poetry I have read in years. The poems are so sharp and so well-written and so harsh. He is our contemporary Robert Lowell. Anyone who likes poetry should take a look at this book.
Rating: - Intense
So many "gay" poets write tired, boring, clichéd poems about gay experience. What a surprise to find a poet who can tackle gay issues without dumbing down the poems. Some wrenching, harsh, stunning poems here. Every reader, gay or straight, have experienced some of the emotions that guide the speaker of these poems. Unlike the majority of contemporary poetry, these poems have something to say and actually "says" it well. No boring academic tricks to wade through. After ... Read More
Rating: - Incredible
I can't remember the last time I read a book of poetry this powerful. At times reminiscent of Robert Lowell, Cole's candor and intensity of language is amazing. These poems are strangely mean, self-deprecating, troubling. At a time when so much poetry is blather, what a surprise to find these.
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