{"product_id":"crossroads-44","title":"Crossroads","description":"In his twelfth book of original verse David R. Slavitt leads us to a crossroads where terror, loneliness, and despair are transfigured by love and art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMuch of the collection centers on the poet's family history. In the title poem, Slavitt imagines the \"\"dour landscape\"\" of the Polish hamlet his grandparents left in search of a safer haven, at the same time that he reflects ruefully on the hazards of contemporary life in America:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ebut what they abandoned is what I dream of now,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e asleep, while people who don't even know my name\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e monitor consoles that show \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewhat zones in my house have been violated, what doors\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e or windows opened, or motion sensors tripped \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e by the cat or some intruder. On the street, cars\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e are stolen and stripped\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eby desperate men, wild children . . . Who can say?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn another poem, he recalls his mother and his discovery only after her death, her murder, that the name she had been given was not Adele but Ida. As a young woman she had chosen to call herself something \"\"not too cute, but not too plain, not Ida.\"\" And it is Adele he decides on for her grave marker, in deference to her whimsical and brave spirit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot only family but also the worlds of art, music, and literature animate Slavitt's verses, from a consideration of the modes of salvation suggested by El Grenco's and Goy's paintings of Saint Peter to a reflection upon our common response to a discordantly tuned instrument, from echoes of \u003ci\u003eParadise Lost \u003c\/i\u003eto witty and deft variations on Catullus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThroughout this collection David Slavitt's keen intelligence, wry humor, and deep compassion shine through. \u003ci\u003eCrossroads\u003c\/i\u003e allows us to observe a poet working at the peak of his powers.","brand":"Louisiana State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55807332942168,"sku":"9780807117545","price":19.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/crossroads-44","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}