IN THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT

by Ralph Pomeroy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 5, 1968

Although the poems in this first collection appear to have been written at different periods, and certainly in different locations and situations, the tone throughout is much the same. Observations on life in the country, on love, Europe, authors and painters, life in a loft in Lower Manhattan, are recorded with a sort of naive ''matter-of-factness which often becomes simply a flat statement without overtones. The intentness bestowed equally upon emotions, and upon very minor scenes and scenery (an old man feeding pigeons, a fallen apple) is more mere observation than interpretation, and sounds sometimes like the work of someone who came to poetry fairly late in life and is still hovering between the two languages of prose and poetic transformation. This awkward newness is at times pleasant and earnest, childlike in its sense of surprise and cautious exploration; but it tends to lack inventive energy and the real insights possible in more skillfully controlled poetry.

Pub Date: Aug. 5, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION