Jackstraws: Poems

Charles Simic

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000 - Poetry - 96 pages

In this new collection of sixty-two poems Charles Simic paints exquisite and shattering word pictures that lend meaning to a chaotic world populated by insects, bridal veils, pallbearers, TV sets, parrots, and a finely detailed dragonfly. Suffused with hope yet unafraid to mock his own credulity, Simic's searing metaphors unite the solemn with the absurd. His raindrops listen to each other fall and collect memories; his wildflowers are drunk with kissing the red-hot breezes; and his God is a Mr. Know-it-all, a wheeler-dealer, a wire-puller. In this latest lyrical gathering, Simic continues to startle his fans with the powerful and surprising images that are his trademark-slangy images of the ethereal, fantastic visions of the everyday, foreign scenes of the all-American-and moments full of humor and full of heartache. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Contents

• SpeckSized Screaming Head: 4
• The Soul Has Many Brides: 5
• The History of Costumes: 6
• Medieval Miniature: 7
• Private Eye: 8
• The Common Insects of North America: 9
• De Occulta Philosophia: 10
• Live at Club Revolution: 12
• Mother Tongue: 13
• NonStop War with Bugs: 14
• Midnight Freight: 15
• Barber College Shave: 16
• The Street of Martyrs: 17
• Poor Little Devil: 18
• Streets Paved with Gold: 19
• The Gang of Mirrors: 20
• St George and the Dragon: 21
• The Famous NoShows: 22
• Bug Doctor: 24
• My Friend Someone: 25
• Taking a Breather: 26
• El libro de la sexualidad: 29
• Arriving Celebrities: 30
• Modern Sorcery: 31
• BigTime Wrestling: 32
• Ship of Fools: 33
• Mummys Curse: 34
• The Return of the Invisible Man: 35
• Dream Broker: 36
• Odd Sympathies: 37
• Amour Fou: 38
• In the Street: 39
• Past the Animal Hospital: 40
• Filthy Landscape: 41
• Love Poem: 42
• Prison Guards Silhouetted Against the Sky: 43
• The Blizzard of Love: 44
• The OnceOver: 45
• Jackstraws: 46
• Beauty Parlor: 47
• My Little Utopia: 48
• School for Visionaries: 51
• Ambiguitys Wedding: 52
• On a Lack of Respect Paid to the Ceiling: 53
• Vacant Rooms: 54
• The Invisibles: 56
• Insomniacs Debating Society: 57
• Ancient Divinities: 58
• Empty Picture Frame: 59
• Midsummer Feast: 60
• Obscurely Occupied: 61
• House of Horrors: 62
• To the One Upstairs: 63
• Head of a Doll: 64
• On the Meadow: 65
• Empty Rocking Chair: 66
• Three Photographs: 67
• The Mouse in the Radio: 68
• The Toy: 69
• Talking to the Ceiling: 74
• Mystic Life: 82

About the author

Charles Simic was a poet, essayist, and translator who was born in Yugoslavia in 1938 and immigrated to the United States in 1954. He published more than twenty books of poetry, in addition to a memoir and numerous books of translations for which he received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award, the Griffin Poetry Prize, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the Wallace Stevens Award. In 2007, he served as poet laureate of the United States. He was a distinguished visiting writer at New York University and professor emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, where he taught since 1973. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-four.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Jackstraws: Poems; Harvest Book
• Author: Charles Simic
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000
• ISBN: 0156010984, 9780156010986
• Length: 96 pages
• Subjects: Poetry / American / Asian American & Pacific Islander; Poetry / American / General; Poetry / Caribbean & Latin American; Poetry / General; Poetry / Subjects & Themes / Animals & Nature; Poetry / Subjects & Themes / Family; Poetry / Subjects & Themes / General