About This Title
In this his third book of poetry, Mark Irwin makes stunning jumps of imagination to create a poetry that is Rilkean in conception and execution, and that speaks to the issues of history, memory, language and consciousness. Irwin's vision for America is as broad as Whitman's and Hart Crane's, his language propelled by charged rhythms and a lush music. These poems address the American experience, from shopping at Woolworth's to traveling into the Grand Canyon, from the art of Robert Mapplethorpe to that of Andy Warhol, who "watched the working class work and it bored [him] to beauty."
Airport
Sun extends the sky-- and the jets,
Sleek aluminum pods,
Nose up against
The glass. Corridors
Dissolve. Passengers
Shuttle and queue
Suddenly enclosed
to a brief church of
Farewells. Light floods
Concrete and cloud. Wings
Glint beneath sun. Planes
Taxi, turn, glide; toys
Moved by an invisible hand.
Turbines whir, subside; a
High-pitched suck and whine.
Where is the outside of our
Lives? Acres of cement disclose
The horizoned trees, wavy
And dumb through the fueled
Heat. --A readying
Jet. Light, tinseled, leaks
Along its side--turning,
A tube of windows,
Faces, illumined, dissolves.
© BOA Editions, Ltd 1996
Available editions:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cloth ISBN: 1-880238-30-6
Price: $20.00
Publishing Date: January 1996
Paperback ISBN: 1-880238-31-4
Price: $12.50
Publishing Date: January 1996
