Count the Waves: Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American
Cover of the book Count the Waves: Poems by Sandra Beasley, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sandra Beasley ISBN: 9780393243215
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: June 1, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Sandra Beasley
ISBN: 9780393243215
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: June 1, 2015
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

“Beasley uses humor and surprise like a scythe, cutting to the root of a matter.”—Washington Post

In Count the Waves, Sandra Beasley turns her eclectic imagination to the heart's pursuits. A man and a woman sit at the same dinner table, an ocean of worry separating them. An iceberg sets out to dance. A sword swallower ponders his dating prospects. "The vessel is simple, a rowboat among yachts," the poet observes in "Ukulele." "No one hides a Tommy gun in its case. / No bluesman runs over his uke in a whiskey rage."

Beasley's voice is pithy and playful, with a ferocious intelligence that invites comparison to both Sylvia Plath and Dorothy Parker. In one of six signature sestinas, she warns, "You must not use a house to build a home, / and never look for poetry in poems." The collection’s centerpiece is a haunting sequence that engages The Traveler's Vade Mecum, an 1853 compendium of phrases for use by mail, telegraph, or the enigmatic “Instantaneous Letter Writer."

Assembled over ten years and thousands of miles, these poems illuminate how intimacy is lost and gained during our travels. Decisive, funny, and as compassionate as she is merciless, Beasley is a reckoning force on the page.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“Beasley uses humor and surprise like a scythe, cutting to the root of a matter.”—Washington Post

In Count the Waves, Sandra Beasley turns her eclectic imagination to the heart's pursuits. A man and a woman sit at the same dinner table, an ocean of worry separating them. An iceberg sets out to dance. A sword swallower ponders his dating prospects. "The vessel is simple, a rowboat among yachts," the poet observes in "Ukulele." "No one hides a Tommy gun in its case. / No bluesman runs over his uke in a whiskey rage."

Beasley's voice is pithy and playful, with a ferocious intelligence that invites comparison to both Sylvia Plath and Dorothy Parker. In one of six signature sestinas, she warns, "You must not use a house to build a home, / and never look for poetry in poems." The collection’s centerpiece is a haunting sequence that engages The Traveler's Vade Mecum, an 1853 compendium of phrases for use by mail, telegraph, or the enigmatic “Instantaneous Letter Writer."

Assembled over ten years and thousands of miles, these poems illuminate how intimacy is lost and gained during our travels. Decisive, funny, and as compassionate as she is merciless, Beasley is a reckoning force on the page.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Happiness Is a Chemical in the Brain: Stories by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Long Haul: A Trucker's Tales of Life on the Road by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Ayatollahs' Democracy: An Iranian Challenge by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book Sniper: A Novel by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Wizard of Loneliness by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book Borderline Bodies: Affect Regulation Therapy for Personality Disorders (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book Colorado: A History by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2002 by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Shades: A Novel by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Saucier's Apprentice: One Long Strange Trip through the Great Cooking Schools of Europe by Sandra Beasley
Cover of the book The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body by Sandra Beasley
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy