{"product_id":"9781556590900","title":"Configurations: New \u0026 Selected Poems, 1958-1998","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the National Book Award\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDrawing his most outstanding work from nine previous volumes of award-winning poetry, Clarence Major had added a substantial body of new work to present a clear assessment of his forty-year career. By turns humorous and serious, Major is always richly lyrical while remaining precise in his observations. Line by line, his poems insist upon their own integrity, driven on by music as equally inspired by blues and jazz as it is by the \u003ci\u003eCantos\u003c\/i\u003e of Ezra Pound.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, \u003cb\u003eClarence Major\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of eight previous volumes of poetry, eight novels, including \u003ci\u003eDirty Bird Blues\u003c\/i\u003e (originally published in HC by Mercury House), several collections of short stories and nonfiction, and editor of two acclaimed anthologies of African-American literature. He teaches at the University of California, Davis.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Like the finest blues, Clarence Major is, by turns, hypnotic, exotic, and healthily erotic.\"—Al Young\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"[Clarence Major] writes poetry with the resistant, angular surface of tumbled brick. As if the poem had been literally smashed. An improvisational, jazz-like quality. Some tough, sharp observations.\"— \u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Passionate [and] controlled lyricism. . . The prevailing tonality of the poetry is quiet, almost philosophical.\"— \u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Copper Canyon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47059517276400,"sku":"9781556590900","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781556590900_p0.jpg?v=1763756790","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781556590900","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}