Sonnet 56
by Paul Hoover
Art by VD Collective
Introduction by Ian Monk
Book 2 of 5, TrenchArt Maneuvers Series
Poetry / $15.00
ISBN 10: 1-934254-12-6
ISBN 13: 978-1-934254-12-7
Size: 9.25 X 4.25
Pages: 81
Binding: Softcover, Perfect
Paul Hoover’s Sonnet 56 mixes Love, Poetry and Shakespeare in a marvelous grab bag of form, wit and playfulness. Starting with Shakespeare’s sonnet 56 — Sweet love, renew thy force, be it not said / Thy edge should blunter be than appetite, — Hoover writes 56 poetic variations, turning Shakespeare’s sonnet into a series of new (and traditional) forms, including: “Villanelle,” “Noun Plus Seven,” “Limerick,” “Blues,” “Course Description,” “Flarf,” “Imagist,” “Tanka,” “Answering Machine,” “Rilke,” “Morse Code” and “Bad Writing.” The result is tender portrayal of love and an excellent survey of the possibilities within contemporary poetry.
Sonnet 56 is published as part of the TrenchArt Maneuvers Series, with an Introduction by Oulipo member Ian Monk and visual art by VD Collective.
About the Author
Paul Hoover is the author of eleven books of poetry including Edge and Fold (2006), Poems in Spanish (2005), which was nominated for the Bay Area Book Award; Winter (Mirror) (2002); Rehearsal in Black (2001); Totem and Shadow: New & Selected Poems (1999); Viridian (1997); and The Novel: A Poem (1990). He is editor of the anthology Postmodern American Poetry (W. W. Norton, 1994) and, with Maxine Chernoff, the annual literary magazine New American Writing. His collection of literary essays, Fables of Representation, was published in the Poets on Poetry series of University of Michigan Press in 2004. He teaches at San Francisco State University.
Check out Paul Hoover’s Poetry Blog