Bibliograph

The painted bed, Donald Hall

Type

Label

The painted bed, Donald Hall

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The painted bed

Oclc number

48170808

Responsibility statement

Donald Hall

Summary

Donald Hall's fourteenth collection opens with an epigraph from the Urdu poet Faiz: "The true subject of poetry is the loss of the beloved." In that poetic tradition, as in The Painted Bed, the beloved might be a person or something else -- life itself, or the disappearing countryside. Hall's new poems further the themes of love, death, and mourning so powerfully introduced in his Without (1998), but from the distance of passed time. A long poem, "Daylilies on the Hill 1975-1989," moves back to the happy repossession of the poet's old family house and its history -- a structure that "persisted against assaults" as its generations of residents could not. These poems are by turns furious and resigned, spirited and despairing -- "mania is melancholy reversed," as Hall writes in another long poem, "Kill the Day." In this book's fourth and final section, "Ardor," the poet moves toward acceptance of new life in old age; eros reemerges

Table Of Contents

The painted bed -- Kill the day -- Deathwork. The after life ; The purpose of a chair ; After Homer ; Barber ; Folding chair ; Her intent ; Retriever ; Sweater ; Another Christmas ; Deathwork ; The perfect life ; Distressed Haiku ; Easters ; Throwing the things away ; Ardor ; Her garden ; Hiding ; Summer kitchen ; Wool squares ; Proctor graveyard ; Burn the album ; The touch ; Pond afternoons ; Hours hours ; The wish -- Daylilies. Daylilies on the hill, 1975-1989 -- Ardor. The old lover ; Conversation's afterplay ; Charity and dominion ; Razor ; Buoyancy ; "Maison d'Aujourd'hui" ; Impossible lovers ; The peacable kingdom ; Sun ; Vilanelle ; Love poem ; Dread and desire ; Out of bed ; Affirmation

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