|
|
|
 The Fabulous Beasts
by Joyce Carol Oates
Illustrated by A. G. Smith, Jr.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1975
86 pages
Dust Jacket Blurb
This collection of fifty-two poems from the author of Angel Fire and Anonymous Sins explores the annihilation of time-bound ego, a liberating, sometimes terrifying experience for all who live within the "fabulous beast" of history and nature. The poems explore the shifting, elusive point at which the inwardness of individual experience touches upon the larger consciousness of a species or an era, forming a connection with a "self" that goes beyond subjectivity.
The poems are grouped into four parts: "Broken Connections," "Fobidden Testimonies," "The Child-Martyr," and "The Fabulous Beasts." Two of them, "The Child-Martyr" and "A Posthumous Sketch," are prose poems which, though technically different than the others, are concerned with the same theme—the relationship between the individual and a larger, all-inclusive whole. Neither fatalistic nor rebellious, the poems convey the idea that as long as we live in time we must struggle, and that it is this struggle that determines our humanity.
|
Epigraph
A tenth of an inch's difference,
And heaven and earth are set apart.
—the Heart Sutra
Excerpt
Waiting
Too many gulls to be counted.
Unrhythmic waves—immense, shallow—
the sucking noises never predictable.
He waits on the beach, his arms tight around his knees.
He is not a child, he sits too heavily.
A Canada goose flies in, the wings ungainly, noisy.
Seven mallards ride the waves
and there are innumerable sailboats, all silent.
Is this perfection?
He waits for the next wave to change everything.
Reviews
- Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1975, p1161
- Publishers Weekly, November 3, 1975, p67
- Library Journal, January 15, 1976, p343
- Booklist, March 15, 1976, p1016
- Southwest Review, Spring 1976, p213-214
- Choice, April 1976, p226
- Book Forum, Summer 1976, p403-404
- Sewanee Review, Summer 1976, p536-537
- Yale Review, Autumn 1976, p114-118
- Poetry, May 1977, p107-110
America, August 20, 1977, p81
|
Contents
I. BROKEN CONNECTIONS
Broken Connections
After Terror. . . .
The Impasse
Wonders of the Invisible World
A Posthumous Sketch
II. FORBIDDEN TESTIMONIES
Forbidden Testimonies
An Age of Miracles
"After Twelve Years of Traveling Constantly. . . ."
Breaking and Entering
The Fear of Going Blind
Two Insomniacs
An American Tradition
Coast Guard Rescue Maneuvers
Lovers
A Heroine Without a Story
Lies Lovingly Told
To a Victim
A Friend Moving Out of Our Lives
The Survivor
In the Street
Spaces
Lorelei
"But I Love. . . ."
Blizzard
Sinners in the Hand of a Righteous God
Flight
Seizure
III. THE CHILD-MARTYR
The Child-Martyr
Occult
In Case of Accidental Death
Promiscuity
What Has Not Been Lost in the Deserts of North America?
Midday
Closure
Being Faithful
Fireflies
Mourning and Melancholia: In Memory of Sylvia Plath
Approaching the Speed of Light
After the Storm
While We Slept. . . .
The Forgiveness of Sins
London Winter
20.26 Knots
In Air
Music
A Vision
IV. THE FABULOUS BEASTS
Fabulous Beast
Wooded Forms
In Realms of Day
Dreaming America
"All Things Are Full of Gods"
Waiting
|
Page address:
http://jco.usfca.edu/works/poetry/fabulous.html
|
|
Previous