Chekhov’s Mongoose

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Tom Shapcott Chekhov’s Mongoose
Search for a word or phrase in this book … Biographical note: Tom Shapcott (born 1935) is a well known Australian poet who has been published in a number of countries. Translations of major selections of his work have been published in Hungary, Romania and the Republic of Macedonia. He has published 15 collections of poems in Australia, as well as 6 novels and other prose works. He is the inaugural Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Adelaide, in South Australia. BIC Basic EAN13: 9780646395432 ISBN-10: 0646395432 ISBN-13: 9780646395432 Author: Tom Shapcott Title: Chekhov’s Mongoose Series: Salt Modern Poets Product class: BC Language: eng Audience: General/trade BIC subject category: CTCH1 Publisher: Salt Publishing Pub date: 01-Aug-00 Extent: 108pp Height: 216 mm Width: 140 mm Thickness: 7 mm Weight: 162 gms Supplier: Gardners Books Supplier: Ingram Book Group Supplier: Inbooks (James Bennett) Availability: IP Price: GBP 7.95 Price: USD 12.95 Rights: World	See larger image PAPERBACK 20% off at the UK Bookstore! ~~£7.95~~ £6.36 20% off at the US Bookstore! ~~$12.95~~ $10.36	Short description/annotation: Chekhov’s Mongoose is Tom Shapcott’s 15th collection, here are poems rich, mannered and varied, full of energy that comes from being conscious of the hourglass, and loving the pressure of poetic forms. This work is sensual, intelligent and pushy, but filled with an increasing sense of loneliness and loss. Main description: Table of contents: I The Dreams The old window An old story Phoenix Aubade Deposition of the dream The letters The old king after surgery Smile Smal gothic appetites The grey lady of wonaminta Colonial The painted shore II Four Sestinas Chekhov’s Mongoose Sestina in the time of El Niño Revival Australian Horizons III The visions Letters from Gwen Harwood The dream of return After twenty years Stag in the upstairs parlour Poem for John Olson Thirteen ways of remembering the river IV Travel Belgrade, 1989 Pristina, Kosovo Fishing Lake Ochrid Dried watermelon Samarkand by moonlight At Methoni Venice For Alexander Pushkin V At Fassifern The ghost rock pool Cycle Growing pains The Fassifern VI For Dorothy my mother Figs Then Old Tom song Three sonnets on death Tree Tenant Skin as the parchment Skin of the hand Writing in public Making the news For Dorothy my mother View excerpt as PDF: Click here to view a sample (104 KB) Excerpt from book: An old story Twenty–three years later he sat on his bed in the dark in the same room. Like irridescent dust, his hair now covered his body—shoulder, belly, and of course the luxuriant beard. Only his skull was hairless, nothing would alter that. For twenty–one of those years he had looked at each mirror and always the verdict : going going gone. There was the cheval–glass in Madame Véronique’s salon—she called it a salon—and the gold framed Verseilles monstrosity of his ambassadorial days, that had been an indulgence. More important was the small steel mirror—army issue— it was still close to hand, had he needed it. Like a blue army in the green heat it had multiplied in his mind over the years and always with the same curse: twenty–three years will pass, and you will be back to where you started. Slowly he got up off the bed. He reached for his razor. Review quote: This, his 15th collection, is rich, mannered and varied, full of energy that comes from being conscious of the hourglass, and loving the pressure of poetic forms. He is always sensual, intelligent, pushy. What seems to have been emergfing in recent poems is an upping of the stakes on self-consciousness. The title poem is a senstina, vigorously done. It is high art to get octane into old forms. One of Shapcott’s strongest collections. Barry Hill