Keynote
“Sleigh is nearly as prodigal with his gifts as Yeats.”—The New York Times Book Review
Book Title
Army Cats
Subtitle
Poems
Cover Image
- “As he moves with masterly control from section to section, style to style, yet pulling along a constant narrative thread, Sleigh shows just how accomplished he is.”—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Body
Over by the cemetery next to the CP
you could see them in wild catmint going crazy:
I watched them roll and wriggle, paw it, lick it,
chew it, leap about, pink tongues stuck out, drooling.
—from “Army Cats” Tom Sleigh’s poetry swerves dramatically from the ordinary moment to the onrush of emergency or to the elusive past or to the unexpectedly comic. In Army Cats, Sleigh confronts the more feral aspects of war, journalism, art, and selfhood. Many of these poems are seen as if through the haze after the detonation of a roadside bomb, or while the smoke hasn’t yet cleared from history in the making. One poem describes the fallout after a wedding is interrupted by an explosive; still another attempts to re-create the execution of Saddam Hussein as distorted by a cell-phone video recording found on YouTube. This is brilliant new work by one of America’s finest and most relevant poets.
you could see them in wild catmint going crazy:
I watched them roll and wriggle, paw it, lick it,
chew it, leap about, pink tongues stuck out, drooling.
—from “Army Cats” Tom Sleigh’s poetry swerves dramatically from the ordinary moment to the onrush of emergency or to the elusive past or to the unexpectedly comic. In Army Cats, Sleigh confronts the more feral aspects of war, journalism, art, and selfhood. Many of these poems are seen as if through the haze after the detonation of a roadside bomb, or while the smoke hasn’t yet cleared from history in the making. One poem describes the fallout after a wedding is interrupted by an explosive; still another attempts to re-create the execution of Saddam Hussein as distorted by a cell-phone video recording found on YouTube. This is brilliant new work by one of America’s finest and most relevant poets.
List Price
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About the Author
Credit: Annette Hornischer
Praise
- "[Sleigh's] command of technique is impeccable. . . . Sleigh has been publishing formidable poetry for almost thirty years, and among American poets of his generation there is no one better. . . . Army Cats is nothing less than a triumph."—David Wojahn, Tikkun
- “The best work in Sleigh’s eighth collection continues his effort to use the fruits of civilization to confront the violence and destruction of our time. . . . [his] poems of war provide a shocking clarity.”—Publishers Weekly
- “Sleigh’s energy, precision, and unflagging desire to find connection often color the poems. . . . The exactitude with which Sleigh is able to convey specific images and emotions imbues the work in Army Cats with a sense of clarity amid chaos, which in itself is a survival act.”—American Poet
- “[Tom Sleigh] uses his verse as a tool to discuss our more primal nature and how it still drives our lives even in our supposedly civilized world. Army Cats is a thoughtful collection of poetry with a strong message.”—The Midwest Book Review
