The Cuckoo

by Peter Streckfus

Book Overview

The winner of the 2003 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition is Peter Streckfus's The Cuckoo, chosen by competition judge and Poet Laureate Louise Gl?ck. It is Gl?ck's first selection as judge. In this unforgettable, daring first collection, Peter Streckfus offers the reader poems of deep originality and astonishing power. Taking his inspiration from both American and Chinese culture, Streckfus seems an impossible combination of John Ashbery and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300102720
• ISBN13: 9780300102727
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 78 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

One of my favorites

This is a brilliant book, with incredible depth and beauty. I reread it every few months, and it never fails to reveal something new and wonderful to me. The collection is smart, sad, playful, and quiet. I highly recommend it.

Allusive, great poetry

There's something exciting and difficult to put one's finger on in here -- allusive. It's poetry of imagery and fluidity. Its not poetry of moral instruction, self-expression, or the technical view -- poetry as literary exercise -- though it embraces all of those elements. What makes it a great book is its exploration of a such an original world -- but as all great poets and poetry, still sounds as familiar as the wind.

a terrific new book

Streckfus' first book is a marvel: a poetry collection that evidences new life for the narrative poem, for the incorporation of fairy tale, myth and history in mysterious and moving ways.