Standing on My Father's Grave
| Author: | Freeman, John | |
| Year: | 2002 | |
| Pages: | 72 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-3429-1 978-0-7734-3429-5 | |
| Price: | $79.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
Two themes run like intertwining threads, related at deep psychic levels: a Wordsworthian love of nature, and an abiding interest in the work of psychiatrist and psychologist Carl Jung.
Reviews
"Reading through John Freeman's Standing on My Father's Grave, I can marvel at the beauty of the language, the great story lines, the descriptions, images, formalities, and metaphors that are all so eloquent and classical. This is a great work stunningly beautiful and haunting at the same time. But what is the most outstanding feature of this book is Freeman's honesty and his love for and approach to the entire world of humanity as well as what it encompasses. . . . It is rare to find poems that encompass so many facets of both the human condition and the natural world, and Freeman does it with simple language, classical style, and very eloquent verse. One of the finest reading experiences I've had in several years." - Leonard Cirino, Pygmy Forest Press
"John Freeman's new book, Standing on My Father's Grave, is the work of a smart man, a tough man, a brave poet. His poems about birds and other natural creatures may seem to place him in the tradition of romantic poetry. There's truth to that. His wild use of metaphor will suggest the metaphysical poets to some readers. Fair enough. Some of his poems are likely to be called confessional. He's a religious man who has lived some serious and dangerous lives. He'll have to be somewhat confessional. Most of all he is an original poet. Read all of his book. Enjoy." - James Whitehead, University of Arkansas
"The poems are traditional in form, their lines turned on a master's lathe. This impressive collection fulfills his urge 'to reach the fire of words rubbed together' and delivers 'Late-Night Country Music' that both compels and sustains." - Angela Ball, University of Southern Mississippi
"John Freeman is a Southern poet. Before anybody gets visions of quaintness, let me qualify what I mean. I mean a poet of wide knowledge and deep concern, a poet inescapably moral, who knows that the most troubled times require the sturdiest integrities, a god-seeking poet. . . a poet who has the shapeliness of classical utterance and the ease of casual speech, a poet who knows form and grace, and most of all, a poet who can make memorable phrases. . . . John Freeman is a Southern poet. Standing on My Father's Grave is what poetry is for." - Jack Butler, College of Santa Fe
"John Freeman's new book, Standing on My Father's Grave, is the work of a smart man, a tough man, a brave poet. His poems about birds and other natural creatures may seem to place him in the tradition of romantic poetry. There's truth to that. His wild use of metaphor will suggest the metaphysical poets to some readers. Fair enough. Some of his poems are likely to be called confessional. He's a religious man who has lived some serious and dangerous lives. He'll have to be somewhat confessional. Most of all he is an original poet. Read all of his book. Enjoy." - James Whitehead, University of Arkansas
"The poems are traditional in form, their lines turned on a master's lathe. This impressive collection fulfills his urge 'to reach the fire of words rubbed together' and delivers 'Late-Night Country Music' that both compels and sustains." - Angela Ball, University of Southern Mississippi
"John Freeman is a Southern poet. Before anybody gets visions of quaintness, let me qualify what I mean. I mean a poet of wide knowledge and deep concern, a poet inescapably moral, who knows that the most troubled times require the sturdiest integrities, a god-seeking poet. . . a poet who has the shapeliness of classical utterance and the ease of casual speech, a poet who knows form and grace, and most of all, a poet who can make memorable phrases. . . . John Freeman is a Southern poet. Standing on My Father's Grave is what poetry is for." - Jack Butler, College of Santa Fe