Reviews of books by faculty members Daisy Fried and A. Van Jordan appear in the New York Times Book Review.

Women’s Poetry, by Daisy Fried

Fried is a poet who will “tense up” when she hears “an affirming poem,” finding “Sourness a kind of joy I try for intricately.” Her present-tense poems vividly record the impressions of our moment: road rage, smartphones, magnet loops, Facebook, a “gun megachurch.” In “Kissinger at the Louvre (Three Drafts),” the background of a cellphone self-portrait captures “a dark figure” who “looks familiar,” but “I look fat in it,” a tourist decides, “And deletes.” …[Keep Reading]…

The Cineaste, by A. Van Jordan

Ekphrastic poetry — poetry about other art forms, that is, like Edward Hirsch’s consideration of Edward Hopper’s “House by the Railroad” — has a long tradition, and now includes not just fine arts but also films. Jordan devotes his fourth and best book, “The Cineaste,” to depictions of movies, from “The Red Balloon” to “Blazing Saddles.” Two sections of the book address individual films, either exploring Jordan’s responses as cineaste or (more often) presenting monologues from the characters’ points of view. …[Keep Reading]…