PRAISE:
“The imagistic poems of David Lee Garrison display a sharp eye, an admirable capacity to praise this world, and best of all, startling and intelligent flourishes of real humor.”
–Jonathan Holden, author of The Fate of American Poetry
“Blue Oboe (Garrison’s first book of poems) combines exact and convincing scenes with a point of view that is sometimes humorous, sometimes nostalgic. The blend carries the reader on an excursion that feels like life, a vivid life with side-glances at family episodes, school experiences, and those transcending glimpses that deft language can bring.”
–William Stafford, United States Poet Laureate, 1970-71
“David Lee Garrison manages a variety of voices: humorous, down home, wildly surreal, and compassionate. His poems show a special gift for creating character and mood, and they linger in memory.”
–Colette Inez, author of Alive and Taking Names
“In the honorable tradition of poetic memento mori, the poetry of David Lee Garrison explores the nature of reflection and memory, probing the boundaries that separate the living and the dead.”
–Corey Andrews, author of The Genius of Scotland
“In the Edgar Lee Masters tradition, David Lee Garrison looks at all of us with wisdom, satire, and verbal grace as his figures rise from the earth. He ranges ‘wide and deep,’ as did Masters. My favorite poem is ‘The Fifties by the Numbers,’ a masterpiece of detail and statement.”
–Willis Barnstone, author of Algebra of Night: New and Selected Poems
“These poems have the warmth, the wealth of detail, and the essential humanity of someone who has surely lived an authentic life in this world.”
–Jared Carter, author of Darkened Rooms of Summer
NEWS AND MORE:
Betsy Hughes –
David Garrison takes us on varied and vivid pilgrimages to his past — to the people and places and things that stir his own memory and continue to stir his readers’ reflections with their significance. Like Emily Dickinson, subject of one of the poems in this beautiful collection, this poet “wanders our imaginations.”
Anne Deam –
David has artfully captured the essence of life in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Discovery, wonder, joy, and angsts emanate from his words like a burst of color from the first crocus of spring after a bleak winter. His carefully crafted words awaken deep-seated feelings and memories of growing up and living in a world not dominated by technology. Enjoy reading this wonderful and thought-provoking book of poetry.