Conscious and Verbal is Les Murray's first book since his celebrated verse novel Fredy Neptune, described by Peter Porter in the Independent as, 'a true verse novel, not just a tour de force but a sustained piece of storytelling in poetry.' Conscious and Verbal is full of stories, too: political stories as in the harrowing 'At the Swamping of Categories'; love stories, epithalamia and celebrations; curious 'Sound Bites'; and the wonderfully fluid rhythmic surprise of poems such as 'Music to Me is Like Days'. The story ...
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Conscious and Verbal is Les Murray's first book since his celebrated verse novel Fredy Neptune, described by Peter Porter in the Independent as, 'a true verse novel, not just a tour de force but a sustained piece of storytelling in poetry.' Conscious and Verbal is full of stories, too: political stories as in the harrowing 'At the Swamping of Categories'; love stories, epithalamia and celebrations; curious 'Sound Bites'; and the wonderfully fluid rhythmic surprise of poems such as 'Music to Me is Like Days'. The story behind the title poem has to do with the nearly fatal illness of the poet. When he was declared 'conscious and verbal' it was clear that he would survive, and the work he has produced since then he has described as 'posthumous', illuminated by various previously unseen and wonderfully shimmering lights. He has always had a vision of how things are; now he sees how they might be. Derek Walcott says, 'There is no poetry in the English language so rooted in its sacredness, so broad-leafed in its pleasures, and yet so intimate and conversational.'
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Add this copy of Conscious and Verbal to cart. $16.77, good condition, Sold by Prominent Trading Company rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hereford, HEREFORDSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by Carcanet Press Ltd.
