Mona Van Duyn CD

1991. Introduced by Anthony Hecht.

The inventive minimalist sonnets, and so many of the other poems on this recording, illuminate Anthony Hecht's comments in his introduction to this reading, given in the year Mona Van Duyn won the Pulitzer Prize for her Near Changes: "She is a poet whose infallible sense of irony is uncommonly flexible and various, being capable of hilarious lightness, but also of trenchant mordancy."

Length: 68 min.

Track List

1. Introduction by Anthony Hecht
2. Introduction to "Views"
3. Views
4. Introduction to "Minimalist Sonnets"
5. Closures
6. Insiders
7. At the Mall
8. For the Frustrated Writer
9. The Beginning
10. Late Wishes
11. Long Stretch
12. From the Mantel
13. The Poet Reconciles Herself to Politicians
14. A Dog Lover’s Confession
15. One Strategy for Loving the World
16. Introduction to "Near Changes"
17. Near Changes
18. To a Friend Who Threw Away Hair Dyes
19. Introduction to "Late Loving"
20. Late Loving
21. Introduction to "Chagall’s Les Plumes en Fleur"
22. Chagall’s Les Plumes en Fleur
23. Introduction to "For May Swenson"
24. For May Swenson
25. Introduction to "The Marriage Sculptor"
26. The Marriage Sculptor
27. Introduction to "Gardens"
28. Gardens
29. Introduction to "Endings"
30. Endings
31. The End of the Opera (by Howard Nemerov)