The Art of Anguish - Softcover

Sanfilip, Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0962530611 ISBN 13: 9780962530616

Publisher: iliad press, 2004

Synopsis

This fascinating collection of six interrelated poem sequences bound by one theme is a remarkable tour de force by one of the most challenging poets of our time. In this, his third published collection of poetry, Thomas Sanfilip attempts to pierce our shabby web of appearances in order to find the unadulterated human experience; to probe, sometimes even to erase the distinctions between theory and action, reality and illusion, life and death, exposing the excruciating limits of oneness with the world, and the clash of our physical, biologic, mental, subtle and causal aspects of being with nature itself. Yet what Sanfilip reveals more than anything else in these poems is the mystery he believes lies at the very root of all true self-realization; that in order to realize true reverence for life, mystery must be seen as its legitimate source; and that in humility before the unknown, one is finally liberated from all thatwould deter us from contact with the true self. Thomas Sanfilip's poetry has appeared in such publications as the Shore Poetry Anthology (1972), Lyrics of Love (1972), Thalassa, Ivory Tower, Nit & Wit, and Tomorrow. His first book of poetry, By the Hours and the Years, was published by Branden Press in 1974. His second book of poetry, Myth/A Poem, was published by Iliad Press in 2001 and is available in hardcover. Presently, he lives in the Chicago area where he teaches and has written for a variety of publications such as Book Page, Rain Taxi, Letter Ex, Filmfax, Film Quarterly, Film Score Monthly, The Journal of Popular Film and Television, and the Walt Whitman Encyclopedia (1998).

About this title

Review:

This long poem written in Roman numbered sections, constituting a series of poems held together by one title is an ambitiously written work with a lofty philosophical air and an historical motif. "One day on examination of the 20th century's contribution to philosophical thought we will finally recognize our self-proclaimed brilliance of 'modernist ideas' were merely exercises in form," writes Sanfilip. "But in the absurdity of such reductionism we may find ourselves faced with the real challenge of discerning the intelligible laws of the universe, the logos, and its true medium, the poetic word, profoundly changing the very fabric of modern civilization, returning us to faith in being and our true place in the matrix of Nature." The idea that we must return ourselves to our true place in the matrix of nature is an indisputable one for our times as we experience the threat of global warming and destruction of the ecosystems which sustain us. Thomas Sanfilip seems to have a profound feeling for the power and beauty of "Nature" which he always capitalizes in the Germanic mode, as if to deify it with supreme importance-a magnitude which it indeed holds for all. From the poet's black Sicilian hair to his homage to Whitman, his harkening to city life, in New York, in Chicago, his invitations to the simple pleasures of coffee and sweet rolls, his adoration of sunlight and sea, to time and space, we feel his intense desire to communicate his philosophical meandering and his longing for profound love. We travel through his pages full of his effort to poeticize his own being. Sanfilip is replete with himself and his own thoughts and memories, in love with "bowls of fruit brought at morning./When plums spirits raced, sun fell blue, soft. /Butterflies mounted frangipani, fat-leafy flowers./ Blossoming orange wings.// I loved memory/The hands of my mother's doing work, pinning/billowy white sheets to dry in springtime,/kneaded dough, seasoned meat, pepper, garlic, salt./Father his acrid pipe. Summers under an appletree, every branch white flowers./His accordion, guitar, song, sporadic and lost...." This poet is at his best when he forgoes philosophy and lives fully in the descriptive moment with all its sensual and most natural joys. -- From Independent Publisher

About this edition

• Publisher: iliad press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0962530611
• ISBN 13: 9780962530616
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 172