Mark Doty Books

This is a useful little paperback catalogue, it measures eight inches square and is about three sixteenth of an thick (23cm x 23cm x 0.4cm) with the pages unnumbered. It contains about five pages of text: "Welliver's Woods" by Mark Strand which very briefly discusses the artist's subject matter and approach; and "Neil Welliver" by Robert M Douty which discuses a little further the artist and his work. It concludes with a catalogue which provides the basic details, (date, media and size) for each work.

The bulk of the book is taken up with full page colour plates of the artist's work, and as all the paintings represented are square or nearly so they fit very well on the page. The quality of reproduction is good; however in only one picture is the texture of the paint and brushwork evident. In total there are about forty examples of Welliver's paintings reproduced here, plus a photograph of the artist.

it's an early book of mark doty's but i think it's still his best--great formal range here

Mark Doty is a gifted writer, but there is such a mix of profound work and slight image in My Alexandria, that he comes with a little too much hype for someone coming to this book first. There are some exquisite images, but as an AIDS work, this is slim. This work is more about our humanity and how we deal with what we face in the world more than it is about a pandemic.

The most moving poem in this collection is, "With Animals", which is wisely used in the closing third. Some of the work is empty and rich at the same time, which is a lot like a Hostess Cupcake, but we can't live on cupcakes. When Doty really reaches, his work is utterly transforming. Here it is progressive and showcases the talent he shows later in his career.

Doty recently visited my college, and after I read his work, I felt truly honored to have met him. He was a wonderful speaker, and very personable.

This shows through his poetry as well. He is a person speaking on real issues, in a very contemporary manner. Not only is AIDS a question of the homosexual culture and lifestyle, but something for the family, circle of friends, and nation to pause and consider.

Yet, Doty does well in keeping the theme of decay and demolishment in check with painfully potent words that make you pause and think. Though, there is hope, and this is not horribly bleak.

Levine selected My Alexandria for the National Poetry Series a few years ago. And after reading this collection, you can see why it is Doty's best. It's a grim collection, focusing on death and grief, but an elegant one. "Bill's Story" alone is worth the price of the book. This is a book for anyone who loves poetry or has had AIDS tough their life. Good work Mr. Doty.

My Alexandria is undoubtedly one of my favorite volumes of poetry written within the last ten years. Doty's aesthetic reminds me of the aesthetic of the great Japanese woodblock artists -- "mono no aware" -- beauty and sadness. These are poems of haunting emotional resonance and power that are exquisitely rendered in beautifully crafted, ravishingly polished arabesques of language. Doty's sensual imagery is simply stunning, and his sense of metaphor simultaneously organic and epiphanic. The poems "Brilliance" and "Difference," in particular, are poems that I know I will remain in love with always. I highly recommend this beautiful book.

Pretentious, overdone, myopic, ca-ca

Mark Doty's poems are seriously overrated. They are overwritten, full of what reads as faked-up emotion, limited in range--both of subject and imagery. Can't think of anything to say? Just pile on more language.

This is the most exquisite book of poetry I have ever read. Doty uses images so vivid and beautiful it will leave you in tears, wishing for more. He is one of the most transcendant poets of the century.

For contemorary readers who hunger for the melody and cadence, imagery of nature, strong personal emotion, and idealism of poetry in the Romantic tradition, Mark Doty has emerged with a lyrical style reminiscent of Shelly or Keats. The most immediately appealing feature of his work is its sheer lyric loveliness. Loveliness does not stand high these days in the vocabulary of critical praise, but one only need leaf through Doty's Atlantis Poems to be reminded that it does exist and can't easily be called by another name.

I only started reading Mark Doty because he teaches at my university and I wanted to get a feel for his style before taking a course by him. I read Turtle, Swan, and only one of the poems in that collection left any impression upon me. (The title poem of the book--it touched me very deeply.) I came into Atlantis not expecting more than one poem to impress me.

I was pleasantly surprised. In this collection, he wrote many more poems about his homosexuality (as opposed to boring nature poems), people he knew, and talked more about his love of language. He talked about real things as opposed to the esoteric things poets seem to love. It's poetry that is simple enough for most to understand, yet it doesn't hit you over the head with what it's trying to say.

Mark Doty is always lyrical, and uses wonderful words, but this collection also has some poems about real life. It is well worth the price and time.

"Nonce " doesn't need to wait for another poet to translate Rilke. There are already lots of superb choices, each of which lends a different quality to the work. What's best about these Poulin versions is their clarity. Stephen Mitchell has found a supple, authoritative voice for an American version of Rilke, and Edward Snow has done vivid and forceful translations, too, especially of the New Poems. Recently, the Scots poet Don Paterson has published some superb and muscular renditions of The Sonnets to Orpheus. There's no lack of Rilke to read, and readers who love poetry will probably want more than one version, to come closer to the intent of the poem.

From reading the previous review, I will make the assumption that the reviewer could read Rilke in German. This is not the case for me. It is strictly in the English that I enjoy him, and his "Duino Elegies" and "Sonnets to Orpheus" are both testaments to his poetic power.

I cannot comment on the fidelity of this translation, only that the poetry we get is breathtaking. Rilke is best at those phrases which make one stop and contemplate. Some lines from the book that struck me with their beauty, poetically and philosophically:

"Beauty's nothing but the start of terror we can hardly bear"

"Weren't you always
distracted by hope, as if all this promised
you a lover?"

"Isn't it time our loving freed
us from the one we love and we, trembling, endured."

"For there was one hour for each of you, maybe
less than an hour, some span between two whiles
that can hardly be measured, when you possessed Being.
All. Your veins swelled with existence.
But we forget so easily what our laughing neighbor
neither confirms nor envies. We want to make it
visible, even though the most visible joy reveals
itself to us only when we've transformed, within."

Again, I'm no German expert, and I've read other good translations of Rilke. Most will give you all of the "Duino Elegies" but only sections of "The Sonnets to Orpheus." This edition, being only these two sets of poems, lack other great poems by Rilke. That being said, the more good translations the better, and unless the translation is a travesty, poetically speaking (which it is not), then there is never a situation where Rilke should have 1 star.

The Duino Elegies is one of the most breathtaking turns of 20th-century poetry (I don't want to say "great" or "canonical" here) but it has suffered a long history of bad translations into English that push the agendas of translators over faithfulness to the text. You're better off finding an early translation than picking this up, at least until a (good) poet takes the project on--Jerome Rothenberg, where are you when we need you?

Fans experienced in Doty's unique vision of our world will appreciate this early collection combining his first two volumes (now out of print). Certainly lacking the later intensity which would define this celebrated poet (Atlantis' "Homo Will Not Inherit" and Sweet Machine's finest: "Mercy on Broadway"), these poems account for the poet's youth, a topic later dismissed following the sucess of My Alexandria. The artist here is very much in development yet still images describing genuine affection for our decaying world prevail (a theme consistently "Doty"). Turtle, Swan's title poem introduces Wally Roberts, though it's hardly a lamenting cry that we'll see later in Heaven's Coast. Beauty exists here. From an ancient Egyptian headdress to a senile old neighbor, Doy examines his world in scientific detail: a talent which not only inspires delicate, lyrical poems but also heals a breaking spirit, focusing the voice on anything lustrous. Isn't that why we read Doty? To, if only for an instance, see the world as he does: fashionable and redemptive--"our miracle / our hour"?

If you're a Mark Doty fan, there's no reason not to have this book - its contents reveal the younger poet working his way toward the greater expanse of his more mature poetry. It lends a neat perspective to Doty's later work. Is by no means his best, but hey. Neat anyway.

I'm not sure what to make of this little book. It is certainly printed well, a requirement for an art book. The closeups of the Murano glass are beautiful. I wish the smaller photographs of the same glass objects in the back of the book were bigger. I got no real impression as to what the glass actually looked like. There must be bigger, more comprehensive books on Murano glass, if you cannot take a trip to the J. Paul Getty Museum, where these treasures are, or in the best of all possible worlds, go to Venice and Murano and see glass until you cannot look at another object.

The poem "Murano" though beautiful is not my favorite Doty poem. Written for his deceased poet friend Lynda Hull, the poem contrasts the permanence of Murano glass with the stench and death often associated with Venice. "Is this what becomes of art, the hard-won permanence outside of time? A struck match-head of a city, ungodly lonely in its patina of fumes and ash? Gorgeous scrap heap where no one lives, or hardly anyone."

There is no need to combine pictures and poetry. One usually dominates the other. First class poetry does not need to be illustrated. (I certainly think Mr. Doty is a first class poet; his poems often bring me much pleasure. I'm also of the opinion that poetry should be read, rather than explicated. The good poet always says what we cannot explain very well.) Fine art does not require commentary. Books like this are difficult to pull off and seldom satisfy completely. This one is no exception.

I collect glass and books on murano glass. This book offers no new images or knowledge. It is not for the serious collector but would be fine to give a novice as a hostess gift, stocking stuffer etc. It is nothing more than a mere bagatelle. I would suggest paying more and buying a more useful book on the subject of Murano glass.

I believe that Mark Doty is one of the world's best poets, and have bought most of his books and memoirs. I bought this for my former wife as a birthday gift. She is not a poetry fan, but loves this book. She keeps it on the table in her waiting room with some other reading materials and tells me she has had eight or ten patients ask where they could buy the book. A treaure trove of stunning photographs and words side by side. Being a published poet, I would call Doty's words beautiful musings on the island of Murano, glassmaking and life. A little gem!