Frank Bidart

"The collected poems of the award winning American poet Frank Bidart"--

Collected Poems 1965-2016

Half-light

alma

cant even describe how frank bidart makes me feel

Abby N. Lewis

I loved this collection, but it definitely requires the sort of attention that stems from a mind that is content and a body well fed and rested. That being said, I still loved it. I started to read the first poem, "To the Dead," and I found I couldn't finish reading the poem--I had to stop, go back to the beginning, and read it aloud. It was the sort of poem that demands that kind of attention. By the time I had finished reading the poem aloud, I was crying. From there, I knew I had to keep reading (while reading aloud as often as possible). 

In the interviews in the back of the collection, Bidart talks about his struggle to put the "voice" correctly on the page in a poem. It seems as if it's been a lifelong task/struggle for him. But in my mind, the fact that I felt compelled to read each poem aloud because of the way it appeared on the page--to me, that meant Bidart had succeeded in getting each voice across to his reader.

Half-light Collected Poems 1965-2016

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