The Owner of the House

Starred review from August 1, 2003
Poet, critic, and novelist Simpson has been a literary star for nearly three generations. In this anthology he opens with 42 new poems and continues with selections from his 11 previous books, ending with There You Are. This work is filled with evocations of places like Jamaica, Manhattan, Paris, and Venice and range over time from tsarist Russia to World War II to the 1960s. Simpson's obsessive theme is the stultifying effect of middle-class suburban life, with its "cars and power mowers," a wasteland where Whitman's Open Road leads "to the used car lot" and the smug populace "doesn't read anything." Simpson also includes two very readable narrative poems, "The Runner" and "The Previous Tenant." And he goes beyond social commentary to probe "things/ as hidden as a heart" and even notes how "a butterfly/ writes dark lines on the air." The result is a collection both timely and accessible, always telling "of love and infinite wonder." Highly recommended for all poetry collections.-Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, IL

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2003
Simpson is one of the most memorable contributors to the outstanding "Poets of World War II "[BKL Mr 15 03]. His war experiences in the infantry in Europe were hairier than those of most American soldier-poets, who flew or served away from the front. The war preoccupies his early work, which includes most of his most impressive poems. Those, regular in rhyme and meter, often achieve their edgy power by balancing grim content against the plucky mood of their jingly rhythms. After the war, Simpson became a literature professor without forsaking his public voice and concerns. Switching to unrhymed, even-lined verse, he wrote of gray comforts and desperate strivings (often just so much adultery) in the suburbs; of travel and travel observations; and of his Russian Jewish heritage, which somehow led to his own upbringing in Jamaica while too many relatives went to Auschwitz. Read chronologically, his poems constitute the record of a finely intelligent and democratic man's journey from heroism to warm, common citizenship--a life one can envy. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)