Atlantis: Poems by

by Mark Doty

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In his latest collection, Atlantis, Doty claims the mythical lost island as his own: a fading paradise whose memory he must keep alive at the same time that he is forced to renounce its hold on him. Atlantis recedes, just as the lives of those Doty loves continue to be extinguished by the devastation of AIDS. Set in the harbor village of Provincetown, whose charming, cluttered landscape Doty brings to life, the collection chronicles the illness and death of Doty's beloved partner, as well as show more many others whose worlds have been both ravaged and broadened by this disease. Doty's struggle is to reconcile with, and even to celebrate, the evanescence of our earthly connections - to those we love, to the shifting physical landscape, even to our strongest feelings - and to understand how we can love more at the very moment that we must consent to let go. show less

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3 reviews
At the time I first read this in 1995 I might have given it five stars. I loved it so. It was the first collection of poetry that I read hot off the presses and it was th first contemporary collection that felt essential to me. Now I chafe against the poems' easefulness, though it seems very unfair to call a book about losing one's lover to AIDS easeful. But what matters is that then I loved this book. Everything about it.
A collections of poems using luminous descriptions of the physical world, both natural and manmade, to illuminate the longings of life -- a life attempting to come to terms with death. Haunting and inspiring.
3.5 i love poetry, it is often soothing to me, makes me look at things in different ways. This book came in my Strand book box, and it was a poet of which I had never heard. It highlights the beauty of the natural world, some striking images are invoked. It is also about death, death due to AIDS, but also the natural death due to their natural cycle in nature. Sunflowers, green crabs and even mackerel. It is hard to describe poetry without including a sample, unless it is a widely known poet. Unfortunately, however, all the poems are too lengthy, and I would be thing way to long. So you'll have to take my word for it, if you enjoy poetry give this one a chance.
½

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37+ Works 3,914 Members

Awards and Honors

Classifications

Genres
Poetry, Fiction and Literature, LGBTQ+
DDC/MDS
811.54LiteratureAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican poetry in English20th Century1945-1999
LCC
PS3554.O798 A92Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
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Members
283
Popularity
100,745
Reviews
3
Rating
½ (4.26)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Audiobook
ISBNs
4
ASINs
3