Paul Violi (paperback)

This book presents a definitive selection of the poetry that Paul Violi (1944-2011) published in his lifetime, as selected by his friends and colleagues, Charles North and Tony Towle. Violi is often associated with the “second generation” of the New York school of poetry. However, his gift for the transformation of unpromising material — TV listings, the call of a horse race, a book index, a police blotter — into comic tours de force is unique. Informed by an unostentatious erudition and an extensive reading of history, Violi is at home in other modes as well. “Harmatan” includes concise and compelling observations about his time in the Peace Corps in Nigeria. In such masterful works as the “Monk of Montaudon,” he maintains a low-key ironic tone that could be called post-Romantic sublime. The breadth of Violi’s sensibility is second to none. This important collection should help establish his place in American poetry.