Avenue of Vanishing

By William Olsen

Book Overview

In lyric and narrative verse, William Olsen explores subcultures ranging from the suburban middle class to the urban drug culture to the art world, and along the way, constantly probes at the very nature of human language. Drawing surprising and illuminating connections between the political and historical, the prosaic and the personal, civilization and nature, these poems try to make sense of the individual's experience of time, memory, and society. The range of Olsen's images form an organic connection between the physical and the abstract and his hypnotic mixture of colloquial and eloquent language create a sound and music that are uniquely his own.

That's what infinity did, contain and threaten,
until friends complied by going one by one
to resurface obligingly in memories, and it sometimes still feels
we left them at our leisure, that such choice was good
so long as a larger choice seemed to succeed it,
nor could gazing bereave us of common sense,
nor would all plenty and foison fall into penury,
nor would shame forever drop its heavy head.
Infinity felt like life, and it said so, and waited.
It even spelled our autumnal names in solid gold
leaves that an inexhaustible supply of wind
tossed for such pleasure as we had said and said
until it transformed into the profound conviction
that the right track was lost--imagine--forever,
it turned our tears into pebbles that can't seep away,
that can't fly away, that we don't dare to pronounce,
yet it seemed concocted out of a clear beautiful sky,
yet it peeped out the woodshed and drank from the gutter spout,
yet it wrestled with itself and sank in eager mud
that presently it might be outwardly known
along with all the other creatures that perish,
heartbreaking idea among many heartbreaking ideas.
--from Infinity

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810151820
• ISBN13: 9780810151826
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Triquarterly Books
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.3" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Happy Belated Valentines Day from a Student of Monson's

Happy belated Valentines Day, sir. I was obliged to read Avenue of Vanishing for an advanced poetry workshop and then to attend your reading at GVSU, Feb. 11th, '08. The prospect did not excite me. But when I read your work, I found it alive, tragic, comic, and true. Then I heard your work to which you added a sometimes ministerial, sometimes just audibly boisterous authenticity. Then I became a fan. Thank you for sharing your work with us that evening.

one of our best poets

Since the debut of his first volume, William Olsen has emerged as one of the most important and most eloquent of his generation. Olsen's poems embrace a wide range of experiences and subjects but they are alway marked by his stunning language and compassionate vision. This book is a a moving and perceptive collection that manages to find the transcendent without losing sight of the human---beautiful work

Good Work

Olsen's work is intriguing, moving, a great read. I'm new to his work and like it very much.