A stunning collection that traverses the borders of culture and time, from the 2011 winner of the PEN/Joyce Osterwell Award.
Ishion Hutchinson was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. His poetry collection Far District (2010) won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award. Other honors include a Whiting Writers' Award, the Glenna Luschei Award from Prairie Schooner journal, and the Academy of American Poets' Larry Levis Prize. He is an assistant professor of English at Cornell University.
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD IN POETRY
New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2016Library Journal 5 Best
Poetry books of 2016
"Hutchinson's lines listen to themselves, finding the next phrase,
and then the next, implicit in what's already been written down.
His sound effects are exquisite: the clusters of consonants . . .
and the vowels so open you could fall into them, the magisterial
cresting syntax, the brilliant coupling of unlike words . . . [A]
very promising book." --Dan Chiasson, New Yorker"What nerve and
music his poems possess, how beautifully they chart the poet's
search. House of Lords and Commons begins the mythology of a great
voice." --John Freeman "To call Ishion Hutchinson a brilliant
Caribbean poet is just as silly as pigeon-holing Eavan Boland an
'Irish poet' or Adonis a 'poet from Syria.' This is simply because
Hutchinson comes to us from the country called music, he stuns the
reader with the sheer symphony of his sentences.
I love his rage against politics ('casting / beatitudes at the
castor-oiled pimps / in Parliament; Pray for them, joyfully, /
their amazing death!') and the lyrics of childhood intimacies, of
tenderness, fatherhood. To capture one of these tonalities would
already have been a wonderful gift. But the fact of their abundant,
generous, choral presence on these pages, tells us that we are in
Hutchinson major talent. He is without a doubt one of the most
gifted poets of my generation." --Ilya Kaminsky "Writing about the
colonial legacy of violence on the paradisaical landscape of rural
Jamaica, Ishion Hutchinson is a poet of great imaginative
intensity. His sponsors are Hart Crane, George Seferis, and Derek
Walcott, who, like him, are luxurious and stern at once. In these
poems, hammered language has a jazzy, classical, rough, painterly
beauty." --Henri Cole "A tensile strength runs through the vibrant
abundance of Ishion Hutchinson's work--it is the pure line of
poetry, shaped by his sun-lit vision and music. Lords and Commons
has been wrested from suffering and cruelty, irony and violence.
And, in the end, it is an act of forgiveness." --Susan Stewart
New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2016Library Journal 5 Best
Poetry books of 2016
"Hutchinson's lines listen to themselves, finding the next phrase,
and then the next, implicit in what's already been written down.
His sound effects are exquisite: the clusters of consonants . . .
and the vowels so open you could fall into them, the magisterial
cresting syntax, the brilliant coupling of unlike words . . . [A]
very promising book." --Dan Chiasson, New Yorker"What nerve and
music his poems possess, how beautifully they chart the poet's
search. House of Lords and Commons begins the mythology of a great
voice." --John Freeman "To call Ishion Hutchinson a brilliant
Caribbean poet is just as silly as pigeon-holing Eavan Boland an
'Irish poet' or Adonis a 'poet from Syria.' This is simply because
Hutchinson comes to us from the country called music, he stuns the
reader with the sheer symphony of his sentences.
I love his rage against politics ('casting / beatitudes at the
castor-oiled pimps / in Parliament; Pray for them, joyfully, /
their amazing death!') and the lyrics of childhood intimacies, of
tenderness, fatherhood. To capture one of these tonalities would
already have been a wonderful gift. But the fact of their abundant,
generous, choral presence on these pages, tells us that we are in
Hutchinson major talent. He is without a doubt one of the most
gifted poets of my generation." --Ilya Kaminsky "Writing about the
colonial legacy of violence on the paradisaical landscape of rural
Jamaica, Ishion Hutchinson is a poet of great imaginative
intensity. His sponsors are Hart Crane, George Seferis, and Derek
Walcott, who, like him, are luxurious and stern at once. In these
poems, hammered language has a jazzy, classical, rough, painterly
beauty." --Henri Cole "A tensile strength runs through the vibrant
abundance of Ishion Hutchinson's work--it is the pure line of
poetry, shaped by his sun-lit vision and music. Lords and Commons
has been wrested from suffering and cruelty, irony and violence.
And, in the end, it is an act of forgiveness." --Susan Stewart
"Hutchinson s lines listen to themselves, finding the next phrase,
and then the next, implicit in what s already been written down.
His sound effects are exquisite: the clusters of consonants . . .
and the vowels so open you could fall into them, the magisterial
cresting syntax, the brilliant coupling of unlike words . . . [A]
very promising book." Dan Chiasson, New Yorker What nerve and music
his poems possess, how beautifully they chart the poet s search.
House of Lords and Commons begins the mythology of a great voice.
John Freeman To call Ishion Hutchinson a brilliant Caribbean poet
is just as silly as pigeon-holing Eavan Boland an Irish poet or
Adonis a poet from Syria. This is simply because Hutchinson comes
to us from the country called music, he stuns the reader with the
sheer symphony of his sentences.
I love his rage against politics ( casting / beatitudes at the
castor-oiled pimps / in Parliament; Pray for them, joyfully, /
their amazing death! ) and the lyrics of childhood intimacies, of
tenderness, fatherhood. To capture one of these tonalities would
already have been a wonderful gift. But the fact of their abundant,
generous, choral presence on these pages, tells us that we are in
Hutchinson major talent. He is without a doubt one of the most
gifted poets of my generation. Ilya Kaminsky Writing about the
colonial legacy of violence on the paradisaical landscape of rural
Jamaica, Ishion Hutchinson is a poet of great imaginative
intensity. His sponsors are Hart Crane, George Seferis, and Derek
Walcott, who, like him, are luxurious and stern at once. In these
poems, hammered language has a jazzy, classical, rough, painterly
beauty. Henri Cole A tensile strength runs through the vibrant
abundance of Ishion Hutchinson s work it is the pure line of
poetry, shaped by his sun-lit vision and music. Lords and Commons
has been wrested from suffering and cruelty, irony and violence.
And, in the end, it is an act of forgiveness. Susan Stewart"
What nerve and music his poems possess, how beautifully they chart
the poet s search. House of Lords and Commons begins the mythology
of a great voice. John Freeman To call Ishion Hutchinson a
brilliant Caribbean poet is just as silly as pigeon-holing Eavan
Boland an Irish poet or Adonis a poet from Syria. This is simply
because Hutchinson comes to us from the country called music, he
stuns the reader with the sheer symphony of his sentences.
I love his rage against politics ( casting / beatitudes at the
castor-oiled pimps / in Parliament; Pray for them, joyfully, /
their amazing death! ) and the lyrics of childhood intimacies, of
tenderness, fatherhood. To capture one of these tonalities would
already have been a wonderful gift. But the fact of their abundant,
generous, choral presence on these pages, tells us that we are in
Hutchinson major talent. He is without a doubt one of the most
gifted poets of my generation. Ilya Kaminsky Writing about the
colonial legacy of violence on the paradisaical landscape of rural
Jamaica, Ishion Hutchinson is a poet of great imaginative
intensity. His sponsors are Hart Crane, George Seferis, and Derek
Walcott, who, like him, are luxurious and stern at once. In these
poems, hammered language has a jazzy, classical, rough, painterly
beauty. Henri Cole A tensile strength runs through the vibrant
abundance of Ishion Hutchinson s work it is the pure line of
poetry, shaped by his sun-lit vision and music. Lords and Commons
has been wrested from suffering and cruelty, irony and violence.
And, in the end, it is an act of forgiveness. Susan Stewart"
What nerve and music his poems possess, how beautifully they chart
the poet s search. "House of Lords and Commons" begins the
mythology of a great voice. John Freeman To call Ishion Hutchinson
a brilliant Caribbean poet is just as silly as pigeon-holing Eavan
Boland an Irish poet or Adonis a poet from Syria. This is simply
because Hutchinson comes to us from the country called music, he
stuns the reader with the sheer symphony of his sentences.
I love his rage against politics ( casting / beatitudes at the
castor-oiled pimps / in Parliament; Pray for them, joyfully, /
their amazing death! ) and the lyrics of childhood intimacies, of
tenderness, fatherhood. To capture one of these tonalities would
already have been a wonderful gift. But the fact of their abundant,
generous, choral presence on these pages, tells us that we are in
Hutchinson major talent. He is without a doubt one of the most
gifted poets of my generation. Ilya Kaminsky Writing about the
colonial legacy of violence on the paradisaical landscape of rural
Jamaica, Ishion Hutchinson is a poet of great imaginative
intensity. His sponsors are Hart Crane, George Seferis, and Derek
Walcott, who, like him, are luxurious and stern at once. In these
poems, hammered language has a jazzy, classical, rough, painterly
beauty. Henri Cole A tensile strength runs through the vibrant
abundance of Ishion Hutchinson s work it is the pure line of
poetry, shaped by his sun-lit vision and music. "Lords and Commons"
has been wrested from suffering and cruelty, irony and violence.
And, in the end, it is an act of forgiveness. Susan Stewart"
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