Mark Strand鈥檚 Collected Poems earned a spot on the long list for this year鈥檚 National Book Award and could easily make the shortlist, which will be announced this month.
Strand, whose awards include the Pulitzer and the Bollingen Prize, is one of the nation鈥檚 premier poets, and one of the most inventive. Instead of relying on one style or approach, Strand shifts easily from one to another, as if he were an intellectual gymnast.
"Collected Poems" opens with vibrant work from Strand鈥檚 first collection. The lines are crisp and the language resonant, as in this excerpt from the poem 鈥淒reams鈥�:
Landscapes merge
With one another, houses
Are never where they should be,
Doors and windows
Sometimes open out
To other doors and windows....
鈥淐ollected Poems鈥� offers something for every reader and points the way to a vast mental landscape that can be as memorable and compelling as the world we see every day.
