Poems, 2010-2023
Abstract
A collection of poems by William Beford Clark, including ones that originally appeared in a 2016 chapbook, "Ways and Means," and five additional poems.
Description
When William Bedford Clark's book of poems Blue Norther was published by the Texas Review Press in 2010, a reader noted that his verse ranges "in subject matter and setting from the profane to the sacred." Often reflecting the history and culture of the South and Southwest, Clark's poetry employs "a variety of forms and voices" and meditates upon "the mysteries of the past, personal and collective," even as it surveys "the possibilities and liabilities of the present." In each poem, Clark "strives to approximate music, in keeping with the author's insistence that dancer and dance be one." That description might well apply to the contents of this site. The items presented here constitute all the poetry Clark completed following the appearance of Blue Norther, including the contents (in different format and order) of the chapbook Ways and Means (Caminada Bay Press, 2016), printed in a limited edition and now difficult to come by. The 17 poems from Ways and Means are followed by five later pieces, four of which appear here for the first time. Clark is a neo-formalist poet and a traditionalist by temperament and conviction. He explores a variety of forms and meters, including the sonnet, ballad, dramatic monologue, blank verse, modified free verse, acrostics, and alexandrines. There is a satiric edge to many of the poems, the foibles of academe a special target. Some reflect a distinctly Catholic sensibility; others deal with erotic matters frankly and without flinching. Subjects range from hagiography to the John Wilkes Booth legend, from the suicide of a friend and colleague to folk narratives preserved in oral tradition. Humor, both good-natured and dark, is a common element. In these poems, laughter carries with it a serious purpose.Subject
PoetryDepartment
EnglishCollections
Citation
Clark, William Bedford (2023). Poems, 2010-2023. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /200316.
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