This Volume Is The First Collection From The Author, Finalist In The 2011 Able Muse Book Award. His Poetry Globe-trots In Time And Place. It Teems With Such Culturally Diverse Characters And Scenes As Genghis Khan And Muhammad Ali; A Pithy Mise-en-scene Of A Venice Travelogue; Brighton Beach In Florida And Its Natives Or Turistas; And What Can Happen In Japan On Tatami Mats Or Behind Shoji Screens, Whether You Are A Geisha Or Samurai Or Gaijin. His Themes Span The Mystical To The Hard-edged And Badass, Fluently Deployed In Formal Poems In Received Or Nonce Forms And Free Verse. From The Narrative To The Imagistic And Even The Surreal, His Versecraft Is Eclectic, Brimming With Wit And Wisdom, And Realized With The Craft Of A Master Storyteller. He Has Created A Collection Of Unique Pleasures. The Young Men In Their Beauty. For Harry, Who Had Three Passports ; The Man Who Painted Women ; Box Men ; Jump-cut ; Japanese For Beginners: Ronin ; The Book Of Five Rings ; The Journalist ; The Man Who Caught The Pass ; The Rabbi's Son ; The Sugar Man ; Freshly Shaved And Barbered Well ; Solo ; The Zealot Tries On A Burka ; The Unidentified Speaks ; The Pundit. -- Encounter At The Hotel Moskva. In The District Of The Translators ; Antwerp ; Venetian Aubade ; The Book Of Tea ; Katachi ; An Incident Of Honor At Bar Manos In Akasaka ; Travel Memoir ; Ceremonies ; Christina's Fantasy ; Paul Delvaux's Women ; Variation On A Theme By Marc Chagall ; Hexagram ; Sketches From Route 1 ; Still Life ; Overheard At Park And Fifty-third ; Navajo Country ; Two Love Stories ; Awaiting Departure ; Prologue. -- Buying Sneakers. Penelope Lunches With Friends ; Buster And Etta ; Retired, Living In Seclusion Near Las Vegas, Khan Reflects ; Caveat Emptor ; Her Latest Girlfriend Stole The Silk Tabriz And Left A Cat Behind ; Dinner At The Inn Of The Anasazi ; A Brighton Beach Princess Remembers The Past ; Jane ; Where Are The Negligees Of Anthony? -- There Was A Woman Once. Never Mind ; Crossing Brooklyn Bridge At Night ; Summer Island ; Pretty Gaijin Boys Have Often Been Her Weakness ; Two Tales From The East ; In The Spring Of 1978 ; For Trudy, In New York On Business ; Looking Back ; The Performer ; A Game Of Go -- Life In The Second Circle. What Would The Wind Drive? ; Aubadergine ; Renate ; Because She Fell Out Of Her Yoga Pose ; Watchfulwaiting ; At The Crafts Museum At Asheville ; Watching Reruns ; Muhammad Ali Entered My Dream Just To Say Hello ; The River Children Come Of Age ; Death Watch. By Michael Cantor.

by Michael Cantor

Cantor, Michael

Word Galaxy Press

Many Words Press

Canada - English Language, Canada

PS, 2012

Poetry. LIFE IN THE SECOND CIRCLE is the first collection from Michael Cantor, finalist in the 2011 Able Muse Book Award. Cantor's poetry globe-trots in time and place. It teems with such culturally diverse characters and scenes as Genghis Khan and Muhammad Ali; a pithy mise-en-scne of a Venice travelogue; Brighton Beach in Florida and its natives or "turistas;" and what can happen in Japan on tatami mats or behind shoji screens, whether you're a geisha or samurai or gaijin. His themes span the mystical to the hard-edged and "badass," fluently deployed in formal poems in received or nonce forms and free verse. From the narrative to the imagistic and even the surreal, Cantor's versecraft is eclectic, brimming with wit and wisdom, and realized with the craft of a master storyteller. He has created a collection of unique pleasures not to be missed.
"Dante's second circle of hell was reserved for sins of lust, but Cantor's narrator does not judge his infernal cast of characters; rather, he causes us to identify with their essential human neediness. What's more, he does so through a cinematic gift for storytelling and a mastery of poetic form."Julie Kane

xv, 111 pages ; 23 cm

2023-06-28