Carcanet Press - Goddamned Selected Poems

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A couple of years ago Stanley Moss renewed his driver's license. Now in his late nineties, his license runs to his 104th year. He has produced such an immense volume of work in his long life that it seemed necessary for his readers, old and new, to essentialise this mass of work into a portable, liftable single collection of highlights, which these 200 pages represent. It has been hard to confine him to this limiting measure because he still, every week and sometimes every day, produces a wholly new poem, surprising his editor and also, always, himself. As he says in 'The Ocean Slaps my Face':

Yes, Poseidon, you may call me the F-word,
I'm a fluke and flounder.
I am a rogue wave, I am a rogue wave!

'Undaunted, outrageously alive,' Rosanna Warren said, 'Moss flaunts more colours than the Grim Reaper ever dreamed of, laughs in his face, rhymes with abandon, makes a joyful noise unto the Lord, and struts with Baudelaire.' He asks what John Ashbery called 'unthinkable questions, but when he formulates them, they take on the quiet urgency of common daylight'.

Stanley Moss was born in Woodhaven, New York on 21 June 1925, and died on Friday 5 July in New City, N.Y., at the age of 99. He was educated at Trinity College and Yale University, and he served in the US�Navy during World War II. After the war he worked ... read more

'Easily and unaffectedly sharing his life, times and knowledge of the culture, history and ancient history of three continents, Moss is good, thought-provoking company'
William Wootten, The Times Literary Supplement
'What Moss gives is a small world in which the reader's imagination is allowed to open out and live within the poem.'
Ian Pople, The High Window
Praise for Stanley Moss 'Magisterial... God Breaketh Not All Men's Hearts Alike is magnificent. I've read it several times with greater and greater pleasure. Its verbal generosity and bravura, its humanity, the quality and quantity of information which it integrates into poetry of the highest order make it a continuing delight.'
Marilyn Hacker ''Death is a many-colored harlequin', asserts Stanley Moss on his 92nd birthday. Undaunted, outrageously alive, Moss in these poems flaunts more colors than the Grim Reaper ever dreamed of, laughs in his face, rhymes with abandon, makes a joyful noise unto the Lord, and struts with Baudelaire. This is a book to hold onto for dear life.'
Rosanna Warren 'Moss is the kind of poet who tries to find words that help us live, that tell us directly how to laugh down folly or take courage.'
New York Times reviews US edition of Almost Complete Poems 'Unthinkable questions [...], but when he formulates them they take on the quiet urgency of common daylight.'
John Ashbery 'It is time to celebrate the singular beauty and power of Stanley Mossâs poetryâ¦ The damp genius of mortality presides.'
Stanley Kunitz 'Again and again, coming upon a poem of Stanley Mossâs, I have had the feeling of being taken by surprise. Not simply by the eloquence or the direct authenticity of the language, for I had come to expect those in his poems. The surprise arose from the nature of his poetry itself, and from the mystery that his poems confront and embody, which makes them both intense and memorable.'
W.S. Merwin 'This is a book made of experience and high intellect. ... these poems curse and sing about the blessings and tragedies of personal life ... an important, gutsy collection.'
Yusef Komunyakaa 'I've loved Stanley's poems since I first encountered a poem of his in Poetry magazine in John Berrymanâs office when I was nineteen.'
W. S. Merwin
'Unthinkable questions, but when he formulates them they take on the quiet urgency of common daylight.'
John Ashbery

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Goddamned Selected Poems Stanley Moss 10% off all versions Categories: 20th Century, 21st Century, American Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (208 pages) (Pub. May 2024) 9781800174047 £16.99 £15.29 eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE! (Pub. May 2024) 9781800174054 £13.59 £12.23 To use the EPUB version, you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed on your device. You can find out more at https://www.adobe.com/uk/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html. Please do not purchase this version if you do not have and are not prepared to install, Adobe Digital Editions. Description Author Reviews A couple of years ago Stanley Moss renewed his driver's license. Now in his late nineties, his license runs to his 104th year. He has produced such an immense volume of work in his long life that it seemed necessary for his readers, old and new, to essentialise this mass of work into a portable, liftable single collection of highlights, which these 200 pages represent. It has been hard to confine him to this limiting measure because he still, every week and sometimes every day, produces a wholly new poem, surprising his editor and also, always, himself. As he says in 'The Ocean Slaps my Face': Yes, Poseidon, you may call me the F-word, I'm a fluke and flounder. I am a rogue wave, I am a rogue wave! 'Undaunted, outrageously alive,' Rosanna Warren said, 'Moss flaunts more colours than the Grim Reaper ever dreamed of, laughs in his face, rhymes with abandon, makes a joyful noise unto the Lord, and struts with Baudelaire.' He asks what John Ashbery called 'unthinkable questions, but when he formulates them, they take on the quiet urgency of common daylight'. Stanley Moss was born in Woodhaven, New York on 21 June 1925, and died on Friday 5 July in New City, N.Y., at the age of 99. He was educated at Trinity College and Yale University, and he served in the US�Navy during World War II. After the war he worked ... read more 'Easily and unaffectedly sharing his life, times and knowledge of the culture, history and ancient history of three continents, Moss is good, thought-provoking company' William Wootten, The Times Literary Supplement 'What Moss gives is a small world in which the reader's imagination is allowed to open out and live within the poem.' Ian Pople, The High Window Praise for Stanley Moss 'Magisterial... God Breaketh Not All Men's Hearts Alike is magnificent. I've read it several times with greater and greater pleasure. Its verbal generosity and bravura, its humanity, the quality and quantity of information which it integrates into poetry of the highest order make it a continuing delight.' Marilyn Hacker ''Death is a many-colored harlequin', asserts Stanley Moss on his 92nd birthday. Undaunted, outrageously alive, Moss in these poems flaunts more colors than the Grim Reaper ever dreamed of, laughs in his face, rhymes with abandon, makes a joyful noise unto the Lord, and struts with Baudelaire. This is a book to hold onto for dear life.' Rosanna Warren 'Moss is the kind of poet who tries to find words that help us live, that tell us directly how to laugh down folly or take courage.' New York Times reviews US edition of Almost Complete Poems 'Unthinkable questions [...], but when he formulates them they take on the quiet urgency of common daylight.' John Ashbery 'It is time to celebrate the singular beauty and power of Stanley Mossâs poetryâ¦ The damp genius of mortality presides.' Stanley Kunitz 'Again and again, coming upon a poem of Stanley Mossâs, I have had the feeling of being taken by surprise. Not simply by the eloquence or the direct authenticity of the language, for I had come to expect those in his poems. The surprise arose from the nature of his poetry itself, and from the mystery that his poems confront and embody, which makes them both intense and memorable.' W.S. Merwin 'This is a book made of experience and high intellect. ... these poems curse and sing about the blessings and tragedies of personal life ... an important, gutsy collection.' Yusef Komunyakaa 'I've loved Stanley's poems since I first encountered a poem of his in Poetry magazine in John Berrymanâs office when I was nineteen.' W. S. Merwin 'Unthinkable questions, but when he formulates them they take on the quiet urgency of common daylight.' John Ashbery	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog We've Moved! read more Books of the Year read more One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more
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