This is a major achievement by one of America's finest poets. It has been characterized as a story of an African-American family, but it is much more than that, it is the unfolding of the human heart like a bright poppy into a full bloom and then the sad falling away of the petals. I have regularly returned to this book, and always find it rewarding.

Rita Dove's book "Thomas and Beulah" won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. I recently re-read the book (more than a decade after having first read it!) and I continue to be impressed by its artistry and quiet compassion. In a series of poems, this book tells the story of an African-American family in the 20th century.

The book ends with a chronology that serves as a sort of "skeleton" for the story told in Dove's gentle free verse. Thomas and Beulah are an African-American couple who live in Akron, Ohio. They are ordinary people going through the daily trials and joys of life. From their lives Dove creates a low-key epic made up of intimate moments and flashes of insight. We accompany Thomas and Beulah through the World War II era; we see them raise a family; we see the evolution of African-American cultural identity. This is a rewarding book that, in my opinion, secures Dove's place as an essential 20th century American poet.

What I find particularly appealing in this collection of poetry is what moments, memories, or emotions get left out. Thomas's perspective of an event is often undercut by Beulah's rendition of the same event. Situations that Beulah reflects on painfully have even been omitted entirely in Thomas's section of poems and vice versa. These omissions work to expose the "limitedness" of the individual perspective, how two people can function in a relationship as a unit and alone. Dove writes of longing, shame, hope, and love without reverting to nostalgic reminiscence. Each of the poems sparks with immediacy created by the brillance of Dove's language, at once common and suductive.

The Darker Face of the Earth is a wonderful book. It keeps the reader on the edge of his seat. The play is based on the well know Greek story of Oedipus, so it makes the story easier to follow for the reader. Even though you know what will happen in the end of the story it is still surprisingly suspenseful. There are many more actions in this play that lead up to the conclusion than in Oedipus, which adds to the enjoyment of reading this book. The Darker Face of the Earth is an excellent mix of the tangles of a mother and son caught in their sins, and the hardships of slavery. The play is a quick read and I recommend it to anyone who has a free hour or two, because once you start reading this book you will not be able to put it down.

Rita Dove's poetry won her a Pulitzer in her mid-thirties; she went on to became the youngest (and first African-American) Poet Laureate of the United States. It should not be surprising, then, that her first venture into playwriting has produced an enormously powerful and beautiful work. The themes are intricate, the main characters full-bodied and the language -- oh, the language -- nothing short of stunning. What is surprising is that, with all of the above and with a premise that could easily lend itself to parodic or pretentious treatment, she has produced a play that imitates nothing, never takes itself too seriously and expresses itself (dare I say despite its monumental lyricism?) with clarity. Above is from Les Gutman's monthly report from DC where the play is currently running in Washington. And here, for Amazon.com customers, his final paragraph: While most plays are probably better seen than read, I'm inclined to think this one may be a good one to enjoy on the page as well. The poetry is too good to experience only in passing. I am ordering an inexpensive copy of it. To read his whole review and check out the many other features at CurtainUp, the New York City based Internet magazine of theater reviews and related features.

Raymond Nelson edits Harlem Gallery And Other Poems Of Melvin B. Tolson (1865-0), which presents works from one of the most recognized black voices in American poetry. His poems are here organized by topic and include notes for further study.

Melvin B. Tolson was recognized as one of the first African American poets whose poetry has been classified as being in the esoteric category. The implication of this statement means that Tolson was writing poetry in a format which would be acceptable by the greatest English and American poets. One of them who recognized Tolson was W.H. Auden, who wrote favorable reviews about Tolson's poetry. Tolson, who came after the last years of the Harlem Renissance era, knew many of the prominent writers and poets of that era, which lasted from the 1920s through the 1930s. He knew many of the well known writers and poets of that period, including Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Zora Hurston, V.F. Cavington, Ralph Ellison, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Walker, W.E.B. Dubios, James Weldon Johnson and Charles S. Johnson. While he was at Wiley College, Marshall, Texas, Tolson established his reputation by publishing his first book of poems entitled, Rendezvous with America, in 1944. For years prior to that date, Tolson taught English classes to thousands of students since his arrival there from Lincoln University, Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1923. Also he was the coach of the famous Wiley College Debate Team, which included, James Farmer, who later became the founder of the CORE Civil Rights Organization.

Rita Dove's poetry permeates this remarkable new play which uses the Oedipal myth as a structural device as well as a means to enter the world of human slavery as practiced in South Carolina circa 1829-1840. Central to the story is the unusual and compelling relationship between the plantation owner, Amalia Jennings, and her newly acquired revolutionary slave, Augustus Newcastle. Unlike the other slaves who collectively function as the Greek chorus, Augustus can read and write, thus making him not only dangerous but attractive to the high spirited Amalia. Greek mythology aside, THE DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH is a challenging play not only for the reader but for potential producers. But it is well worth the challenge. It is rare that depictions of the conditions of slavery are revealed by 1) an African American, 2) a woman, 3) a poet, and 4) a master storyteller.

A very disappointing and ordinary book - I cannot believe that it was nominated for a booker prize. You just cannot try to write about music in these terms - certainly most musicians would never do so. The main character was such a whinge, mean, selfish - the relationship with her father never properly explained, Northern Ireland dragged in without any real depth or discussion of it. In particular, he never really explored her use of Lambegs (ostensibly a protestant instrument, but actually used by both sides once) by her (a catholic). The end of the book could have been from a Hollywood Meryl Streep movie. The long, free-form structure of the book didn't work particularly well either - moving from the death of her father back to a birth, and building up to the gestation and performance of a piece which seemed totally unrelated to the opening section of the book. Some good writing, but frustrating and annoying.

This book is a short read, but not as easy at is seems at the first sight.

Catherine McKenna is a young girl, an only child struggeling to be free from the bounds the her Northern Irish parents. She has a very special talent for music, and her music teacher from childhood becomes a very special person in her life. She teaches her to read the notes between the notes, the Grace Notes, and this gives special meaning to Catherine's life and music. And also special meaning to the book. The book can be read as words within words, which makes the book full of grace notes.

What fascinates me most with the book is the way Bernard MacLaverty shows us how to read or look at music just like we read or look at paintings. Having read several books about the stories behind Vermeers painting, MacLaverty also uses a Vermeer painting to show music.

I can fully agree with a the reviewer Tobias Hill from The Times: "The strongest impression left by Grace Notes is that of its central image-og the 'notes between the notes' which seem to compose themselves - of a life happening while it's heroine is busy making other plans...If architecture is frozen music, Grace Notes is the literary equivalnt, full of its own powerful rhythm.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

Bernard MacLaverty's "Grace Notes" is a truly absorbing piece of work by one of Ireland's most promising modern writers. It is introspective yet never oblique or indulgent in the way the study of "interiors" has a tendency to be in lesser hands. For Catherine McKenna, a struggling music composer estranged from her parents in Belfast and bringing up her little daughter Anna as a single parent in Glasgow, music is a celebration and a transmutation of the pulse of ordinary life, from childbirth pangs to the sounds of nature. There is a beautiful passage in there which likens the experience of childbirth to an orchestral performance of a musical composition. The prelude is all but theory and practice. You have to experience it to understand its relevance and impact. "Vernicle", the Mass that Catherine finishes, is inspired by her life's highs and lows and the product of her adherence to her teacher's advocacy of the practice of "pre-hearing" and the ability to catch the "notes between the notes". MacLaverty has written a novel that is at once subtle, reflective, poignant and uplifting. It is a consummate achievement that's worthy of its Booker prize award nomination. Not to be missed !

Most readers are more familiar with Rita Dove, the poet. Suprise! Rita Dove has also done short stories and eight of them are collected in this wonderful volume called Fifth Sunday. It is the first collection of short stories by this reknowned poet.

Fifth Sunday opens the door in the life of African-Americans dealing with life in varied settings. Come to church with Valerie as she daydreams about love and ends up in embarassing circumstances. Check out a gang "leader" from the 60's as he gets married and unexpected guests arrive. Share the Spray Paint King's boredom with the psychologist trying to find out why he does this art.

Dove's characters are complex, down to earth and won't hesitate to speak their minds. From the mid-west to Germany journey with these multi-dimensional characters who will surprise you.

I found this book to be a refreshing look at a poet working in another genre. Rita Dove does a superb job and by all means treat yourself to this marvelous work.

What Ms. Dove does here seems dated. Some of her poetry cannot help but resound with the complaint of an aged woman watching young men and remembering death, though the sound of her poems does say something else. They reveal her sheer talent, uncovering a music often missing from a good deal of contemporary poetry. Ms. Dove's true power, however, lies in her shorter poems which are tight concentrations of tied back emotion. They allow the reader to experience the fearful language with his or her own awareness that the subdued grace of sadness lies just a stroke away for each of us in our own lives.

I thought that this book was very personal. Her poems stretch way beyond adolescent longing, ... and youthful frustration. Her poems are rich in depth. This was the first of her poetry that I have read. And I got to tell ya, I ain't mad at her.

First, to answer the reviewer below as to why no Ashbery, no Ruth Stone: Ashbery has been braindead for years and Ruth Stone is minor, minor, minor, in ambition and in achievement. Not to say that others here won't prove to be minor too, but Dove's anthology is the most stylistically diverse yet(Howard's came close) and its real strength is that instead of including the usual stuff from the usual suspects, she made the effort to find young/emerging poets whose work, taken poem by individual poem, is as interesting if not more so. For example, Olena Kalytiak Davis' poem and Linh Dinh's poem are terrific. No disrespect to the man who revolutionized American poetry--respect, indeed, to the body of his work--but why include rehashed and weaker versions of what he used to write when you can include fresh voices full of energy, pointing forward? Sure, there are plenty of lame poems here, but fewer than usual, and Dove's anthology also feels hugely honest and energetic: she didn't settle for the same old same old but also didn't grind a silly axe. She found what she liked and what she likes is wonderfully wide-ranging. Thanks, Rita!

For the past ten years or so, I've been lured to this annual anthology with its title promising "the best" poetry of a given year, and every year I encounter a few poets whose poems here prompt me to read their work beyond this best-of series. (Last year, for instance, I discovered the poetry of Billy Collins, which I recommend.) However, although the poetry in this series is worthwhile, I often wonder if it is really "the best" poetry published during that year.

The seventy-five poems editor and Pulitzer-Prize winning poet, Rita Dove, includes in this year's collection are mostly memorable and often challenging, but probably not truly great. At least for me, some of the poems are difficult, if not impenetrable. However, for anyone who enjoys reading poetry, this book is worthwhile. This year, I especially liked Julianna Baggott's "Mary Todd on Her Deathbed" (p. 32); W. S. Merwin's "The Hours of Darkness" (p. 116), in which he writes, "how small the day is/ the time of colors/ the rush of brightness" (p. 118); Mary Oliver's "Work" (p. 123), in which she writes, "when the sparrow sings, its whole body trembles" (p. 124), "words are the thunders of the mind" (p. 125), and "it may be the rock in the field is also a song" (p. 127); and Dean Young's "The Infirmament" (p. 205).

Also, for those who like such lists, this year's anthology concludes with John Ashberry's, Donald Hall's, Jorie Graham's, Mark Strand's, Charles Simic's, Robert Bly's, and Rita Dove's favorite poems of the last century (pp. 269-285), together with Louise Gluck's explanation why it would be an impossible task for her to create such a list. "There can't be," she writes, "the best of the great" (p. 276).

G. Merritt

I'll admit a bias: I was hoping to see a few of my favorite poets in this year's edition of the Best American Poetry, but was sadly disappointed. No Charles Simic, no Charles Wright, no John Ashbery. But what did make it in this year are certainly great:Mary Oliver's "Work," a long poem contemplating nature (her perennial interest), Susan Wood's "Analysis of the Rose as Sentimental Despair," (the best of many elegies to the late Larry Levis) and Donald Justice's "Ralph: A Love Story." Dove has done an excellent job of including long and short poems alike, and has been fairly representative of the best poets writing and publishing today. Some editors seem to be political in their selections: Adrienne Rich chose none of the "big" names and John Hollander admittedly picked those that were long and/or formal. Another interesting feature of this year's edition is the lists of Best Poems of the Century. Past editors were asked to each give a list of what they felt were the fifteen best American poems of the last 100 years. The results were interesting, with a few editors declining to participate. My choice as best poem from that list: "Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror" by John Ashbery.

Ms. Dove has been praised to the skies for her poetic vision, but one wonders just how far she would have gotten had she not emerged in the 1980s at the beginning of the Political Correctness Era (which continues to this day). Her writing is calculated for the highest drama, but hardly rises above the mundane ... and the fact is, she is no longer part of a generation of African Americans who have suffered at the hands of white civilization. She's wealthy, articulate ... and I didn't believe the suffering in these poems. Like a lot of Iowa City MFA graduates, she's like a fabulously muscled strongman in a gym lifting little tiny weights and making a lot of noise doing so. I'm done with Political Correctness, I'm done with Rita Dove.

Rita Dove's poetry is challenging: lyric, attentive, sure; yet it works in quieter veins than many more exhibitionist poets of the past thirty years. In the volumes collected in this "Selected Poems" Dove explores race, domesticity, history. The single most impressive featis her collection *Thomas and Beulah* which consists of two long sets of lyric poems which, combined, narrate a story (of her grandparents, the Thomas and Beulah of the title) and create a drama -- since the way in which Thomas sees things, in his half of the volume, is utterly different from the way in which Beulah sees things. What is most surprising is how these two people can live together, but in such different worlds. Ther is both strength and delicacy in these poems, and Beulah in particular emerges as one of the more significant figures in contempoary literature.

(Dove's more recent works are also rich, and her "Mother Love" continues to explore, in a new way, the richness of family in America -- this time through a series of inventive sonnets, no two of which use the same sonnet form.)