Mulroney & Others: Poems

By Baron Wormser

Book Overview

Baron Wormser, a master of the persona poem, is well known for his empathic exploration of possible lives. This fifth collection of poetry by this "fiction writer in a poet's body," includes an examination of his own life as well.

Mulroney & Others provides glimpses of Wormser's childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, as well as accounts of Vietnam vets and draft dodgers, socialites and outcasts. Loyal readers will welcome his trademark poise, the elegant balance he achieves with understatement both metrically deft and intellectually intricate. These poems prove Ana s Nin's insight that "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

Wormser's invitation to engage ourselves in seeing is irresistible, especially as he models the process with such impassioned interest. "'I know, ' everyone is saying at once/To one another and the word-riddled universe. . . ." he writes. His poems tempt us to trade the obscurity of facile assumption for the powerful illumination of wonder. In Wormser's words, the universe is irrefutably personal.

Baron Wormser is the author of four previous collections of poetry: The White Words (Houghton Mifflin, 1983), Good Trembling (Houghton Mifflin, 1985), Atoms, Soul Music, and Other Poems (Paris Review Editions, 1989), When (Sarabande Books, 1997), and co-author of Teaching the Art of Poetry: The Moves (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999). His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of journals including The Paris Review, Sewanee Review, The New Republic, Harper's, and Poetry. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He lives with his wife in Hallowell, Maine.

"The particular gift in Wormser's work is in the narrative. . . . He is poised to record, to expose, to express, not to pounce. The language can sometimes ambush a reader with wonder, but Wormser never breaks a sweat. . . . Mulroney & Others is one of those rare books of poetry that will have resonance in the lives of nearly every reader. . . (he) mixes just the right amount of cleverness with a smart appreciation for language, humor, humanity, pain and love."-Ba

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889330396
• ISBN13: 9781889330396
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Sarabande Books
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

No Sugar-coated Breakfast Cereal Here!

Mulroney and Others By Baron Wormser is one of the greatest contemporary compilations of poetry that I've read in quite a while. It might be that I'm slightly bias with his work (he's taught a few classes I've attended), but the way he bluntly conveys his realist views ofthe world and the people around him blows me away. Also, many of the topics he confronts are every day problems, but made amazing with his special twist of analyzation. The only problem I can find with the book is that some of the topics are not for younger readers, and many of the poems have adult content. Overall though, a great read for any poetry lover who is willing to step past the sugar-coated world we live in today.