Book Reviews
A
Human Symphony by Dr. Guy Standard
Poetry by a professor who
writes with perfection under a pseudonym
This is a stunning collection of work that demonstrates mastery in several different poetic forms, all in a voice that is distinctively American, yet completely original. There are country songs that read like Hank Williams, personal meditations that remind me of Basho, fierce condemnations of criminal politicians and warmongers, speculative excursions through modern physics, tips of the hat to great poets and philosophers of the past, the most beautiful love poems you could hope to find, and more - including new poetic forms that Guy Standard calls etudes, continuatives, and continuativos. It's a work of breathtaking scope and depth, and I look forward to more from this heretofore unknown master of American poetry. Bravo, Guy Standard! --Scott Lape
Here we have a perfectly-modern-embedded-in-the-past collection of poems, some of which read like country song lyrics, some like lost Rilke, some like Pound, some like Burroughs, some like Frost but none derivative, more a satisfying, call it comforting even, extension of the American poetic tradition. Doc Standard is an American treasure. Where has he been? And where will he go? --Cisco Pike
