Keynote
Now in paperback, the highly praised second collection by Vijay Seshadri, winner of the 2003 James Laughlin Award of the Academy of American Poets
Book Title
The Long Meadow
Subtitle
Poems
Cover Image
- “[Seshadri’s] ability to see where the fantastic and the realistic mingle, ‘where matter becomes number and numbers matter,’ and to draw casually convincing distinctions gives this book its understated but gently persuasive power.”—The New York Times Book Review
Body
We hold it against you that you survived.
People better than you are dead,
but you still punch the clock.
Your body has wizened but has not bled
—from "Survivor"
"Grave and witty, classical and contemporary, The Long Meadow is a casually brilliant collection of poems. Seshadri is a writer of subtle, elastic and unblinking intelligence . . . Thematically, Seshadri asks big questions and addresses big issues--time and consciousness, suffering and devotion--but for all their deep seriousness of purpose, his poems refuse to take themselves too seriously, disguising an existential disquisition on death as a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, considering human suffering through the lens of 'Superman Agonistes,' grounding a parable of divine injustice with the freedom of a dog unleashed in the Long Meadow of Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Profound and delightful, The Long Meadow well deserves the high distinction bestowed upon it by the James Laughlin Award."—Campbell McGrath, citation for the James Laughlin Award
People better than you are dead,
but you still punch the clock.
Your body has wizened but has not bled
—from "Survivor"
"Grave and witty, classical and contemporary, The Long Meadow is a casually brilliant collection of poems. Seshadri is a writer of subtle, elastic and unblinking intelligence . . . Thematically, Seshadri asks big questions and addresses big issues--time and consciousness, suffering and devotion--but for all their deep seriousness of purpose, his poems refuse to take themselves too seriously, disguising an existential disquisition on death as a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, considering human suffering through the lens of 'Superman Agonistes,' grounding a parable of divine injustice with the freedom of a dog unleashed in the Long Meadow of Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Profound and delightful, The Long Meadow well deserves the high distinction bestowed upon it by the James Laughlin Award."—Campbell McGrath, citation for the James Laughlin Award
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About the Author
Credit: Lisa Pines
Praise
- “Seshadri’s second collection is gracefully contemporary—‘Superman Agonistes’ is the title of one poem—and effortlessly ranges from Russian Church history to Rocky and Bullwinkle.”—The New Yorker
- “This is a strong, almost reckless voice turning dark experience into an unrelenting sense of possibility. From the rhyming stanzas to a long prose meditation, the power of casual declamation holds sway.”—Los Angeles Times
- “One of the most respected poets working in America today.”—Time Out New York
- “Spare and unpretentious, the poems in The Long Meadow are also infused with convention and with tradition.”—Poetry
