Questionable Shapes

Poetry. "'What are the strata / of pastness?' a poem in this fine book asks, and David Gullette responds with ghosts, dreams, daydreams, visions-- 'questionable shapes' that live beneath the surface of richly lived and recorded experience, like 'waves breaking deep down under the house.' A carefully wrought tension between depth and surface, memory and desire makes this deeply explorative book- with its moments of linguistic whimsy and social commentary--both challenging and engaging."...
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Poetry. "'What are the strata / of pastness?' a poem in this fine book asks, and David Gullette responds with ghosts, dreams, daydreams, visions-- 'questionable shapes' that live beneath the surface of richly lived and recorded experience, like 'waves breaking deep down under the house.' A carefully wrought tension between depth and surface, memory and desire makes this deeply explorative book- with its moments of linguistic whimsy and social commentary--both challenging and engaging." --Martha Collins



"David Gullette describes 'the way we live our only life': the world is kicked awake by our desire;/if not, the loser lies there sunk in sloth./ There is no sunset we do not ignite. A lesser writer would have composed a more 'slothful' volume: But the ignition of brilliancies in David Gullette's QUESTIONABLE SHAPES is as dependent on copious learning and the keen sort of intelligence that the Augustans called wit as it is on emotional impulse. The balance and maturity of this book make it a real keeper!" --Sydney Lea