The poems in Writing the Silences represent more than 60 years of Richard O. Moore’s work as a poet. Selected from seven full-length manuscripts written between 1946 and 2008, these poems reflect not only Moore’s place in literary history—he is the last of his generation of the legendary group of San Francisco Renaissance poets—but also his reemergence into today’s literary world after an important career as a filmmaker and producer in public radio and television. Writing the Silences reflects Moore’s commitment to freedom of form, his interest in language itself, and his dedication to issues of social justice and ecology.
Writing the Silences
About the Book
Reviews
“Almost 60 years of thoughtful, terse, decidedly modernist verse and prose poetry come together in this first collection. . . . much of it tersely humble, both philosophical and political, with cadence reminiscent of George Oppen.”—Publishers Weekly
“Richard O. Moore’s no sapling by a long shot, but his poetry is lithe. It expands itself in the off-handed dialect of this country’s newest voices, but remains rooted to the old codes of keen sincerity. It is real poetry, sure enough to break from silence and, when need be, return.”—Bomb Magazine (Bomblog)
“[These poems] are at once sensual and intellectual, erotic and philosophic, and they appeal to all the senses.”—Jonah Raskin Redwood Coast Review
“This is a challenging book to read, yet the challenge comes in letting go of previous notions of what a poem should do.”—Ray Gonzalez Bloomsbury Review"Here is poetry that reminds its readers that a poem is as much a crucible of thinking as it is a crucible of belief, that philosophical doubt and mythic vision do not oppose each other, but are contradictions in which world turns around to become word."—Dan Beachy-Quick, author of This Nest
Table of Contents
Contents
Photographs follow page
Preface Brenda Hillman
Acknowledgments
[Therefore, set forth over the black river]
Shadow and Light
Itinerary
By the Lake
Utensils
Driving to Fort Bragg
Dog in the Forest
History
Columbia 1960
Ten Philosophical Asides
Marginalia: Whitehead
Quotations
Analects
from d{ens}e{ens}l{ens}e{ens}t{ens}e
“Come Live with Me”
:{ems}It{ems}:
from Writing the Silences
“Come Sunday”
Birthright
Notebook
This Morning
Aftershock
Visiting Hours
The Parachutist’s Annunciation
Holding On
. . . a divertimento . . .
Footnotes
A Funeral of Memory
The Winter Garden
A Treasury of Darkness
Introit
Over the Shoulder
Meanwhile
Early Poems
from A History Primer
Seascape
from September Elegy
from At Caesar’s Gate
A Reminiscence
Birthday View Opening on a Garden
Notes
Awards
- Book of the Year Award Finalist in Poetry, Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA)
- Finalist in Poetry, Northern California Book Award