Sunday, December 11, 2005

Woohoo! Dragging the Lake!

Friendship has its perks. I 've got Robert Thomas’s new book, “Dragging the Lake,” chosen by Carnegie Mellon this time last year. I have my own copy already, for that matter. All right, so do the rest of the members of our group, but that’s what I mean.

And it’s a wonderful book. Robert was worried about the cover and apparently is not too sure what he thinks about it, even now. He selected the photo, but didn’t get to see the treatment until the book arrived on his doorstep in South City. I like it! The swath of sea green gives it a woozy surrealistic feel, and that part of the photo is kind of slightly out of sync, as if it is being refracted by water.

But of course, it’s the inside, the poems that are the best part. Brendan Galvin calls it: “…deeply satisfying and snazzy.” Chase Twichell says it’s …“smart…and profound.” I call it astonishing. It will be in bookstores in February.

7 comments:

Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet said...

OK, Robert, where's my copy? That's what I get for missing the last meeting. You'd better have it at your next reading...

Robert said...

I just put a copy in the mail to you, Lisa! (Not just anyone can get a copy by posting a comment here, though!) Maybe you should wait to read it, though--it might give your baby strange dreams.

Beverly said...

I like the cover a lot. It's disturbing, evocative, and invites attention, then more attention. Isn't that what a cover should be? (I like it much better than the cover of my book, for example, which I never liked and have liked less each day.)

And the poems are all of the above as well. A really great book, Robert!

Robert said...

Thanks, guys. Your book won the Lambda Award, Beverly! Book covers are strange. I wonder if anyone but the author really cares about them. If I think of my 10 favorite poetry books from the past 20 years, I'm not sure any of them had a very good cover. Anyway, I love love love the cover photo on my book. I just haven't quite gotten used to how they altered the original photo. I think the power and mystery of it still come through, though.

Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet said...

Oh, good. I *want* the baby to have strange dreams.

Although he may have other plans, you know. (Last night Erich sang the baby a song that goes something like "They want me to be an artist / but can't they see / I just want to be a CPA / why don't they understand meeee?" There was a lot more, but I forget it in the cold light of dawn.)

On a slightly more serious note: What would it be like to be a creative sort but not a changeling - to grow up with parents who also do art, or have that sensibility? Such a foreign concept...

Robert said...

Ah yes, changelings all. A lot of musicians seem to come from musical families, but writers? Is there some fundamental difference? My mother was very happy to get the copy I gave her of The Face of Poetry but her only comment was that the photo made me look fat. Oh well, it's her 90th birthday so I guess she can say whatever she wants!

Unknown said...

Roert,

Rock and Roll!!!!

What a cool experience to be part of your creative life. To see a few of these poems make their way into workshop and then into your 2nd book! Not your first book, but your 2nd! How cool is that!

I want to take a crack at Dragging the Lake over at TGAP but feel too close to it to do an honorable job. I'm hoping one of the other folks over there will pick up on the release and write it up...we'll see.

I really admire the poems in Dragging... The world is lucky to have them. Be well.