X in the tickseed : poems /
From discursive essay-poems to tightly constructed lyrics, Ed Falco's X in the Tickseed examines literature and art, as well as a world that reveals itself only through its mysteries. In the X poems, which are interspersed throughout and form the core of the collection, the arc of one person�...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Baton Rouge :
Louisiana State University Press,
[2024].
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| Summary: | From discursive essay-poems to tightly constructed lyrics, Ed Falco's X in the Tickseed examines literature and art, as well as a world that reveals itself only through its mysteries. In the X poems, which are interspersed throughout and form the core of the collection, the arc of one person's life is traversed from youth to old age. X is a questioning, doubt-filled persona navigating a baffling universe, a universe he describes in the opening poem as "Vast seas of everything brilliant exploding crashing / Destroying and creating, all of it going on / Forever" and in the final poem, when X is in his seventies, a universe he comes to embrace and speak of "in wild favor," determined to praise and "go out / Testifying." Other poems range from explorations of recent history and culture in "A Few Words to a Young American Killed in the Tet Offensive" and "Three Thoughts on the Summer of 2020," to the playful definitions of random nouns in "An Alphabet of Things." Taken as a whole, X in the Tickseed forms a loose biography of a poet confounded by a troubled and troubling world, set in a seemingly irrational universe, where he is nonetheless in thrall to "the spectacle and the marvel / Fiery as ever." |
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| Physical Description: | viii, 64 pages ; 23 cm. |
| ISBN: | 9780807179208 0807179205 |