''Monolithos, Poems 1962 and 1982'' is the second book of poetry by

American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...

Jack Gilbert Jack Gilbert (February 18, 1925 – November 13, 2012) was an American poet. Gilbert was acquainted with Jack Spicer and Allen Ginsberg, both prominent figureheads of the Beat Movement, but is not considered a Beat Poet; he described himself as ...

. It was nominated for all three major American book awards: the

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

, and the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

. The same year ''Monolithos'' was published, Gilbert's partner Michiko Nogami died of cancer.

Overview

Released by

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

in a 1982 hardcover edition, ''Monolithos'' came twenty years after ''Views of Jeopardy'', which won Gilbert the

Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of Yale University Press aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the Uni ...

in 1962. A subsequent paperback edition of ''Monolithos'' was released by Graywolf Press in 1984. However, the limited availability of this edition has caused the book's value to climb from its original six-dollar publication price to amounts between $100 and $250, depending on the seller. The book is divided into two sections: ''One - 1962'' contains revised and collected poems from ''Views of Jeopardy'', while ''Two onolithos1982'' consists of new poems, written mainly on the Greek islands of

Paros Paros (; el, Πάρος; Venetian: ''Paro'') is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of ...

and

Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is the ...

. Gilbert stayed there with the poet

Linda Gregg Linda Alouise Gregg (September 9, 1942 – March 20, 2019) was an American poet. Biography She was born in Suffern, New York. Ms. Gregg grew up on the other side of the country, in Marin County, California. She received both her Bachelor of A ...

during their marriage. Of the title, Gilbert writes in the foreword, "Monolithos means ''single stone'', and refers to the small hill behind our house which gave the place we lived its name. It is the tip of a non-igneous stone island buried in debris when most of

Thira Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera (English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is the ...

blew apart 3,500 years ago."Gilbert, Jack (1984). ''Monolithos''. Port Townsend, WA: Graywolf Press. .

Poems in ''Monolithos''

One * 1962

*The Abnormal Is Not Courage *Between Poems *Perspective He Would Mutter Going to Bed *And She Waiting *Don Giovanni On His Way to Hell *The Plundering of Circe *Island and Figs *On Growing Old In San Francisco *County Musician *I'll Try to Explain About the Fear *Rain *Poetry Is a Kind of Lying *It May Be No One Should Be Opened *New York, Summer *In Dispraise of Poetry *Susanna and the Elders *For Example *The Night Comes Every Day to My Window *The Sirens Again *Before Morning in Perugia *Orpheus in Greenwich Village *Alba *Ostinato Rigore *A Bird Sings to Establish Frontiers *Bartleby at the Wall *The Whiteness, the Sound, and Alcibiades

Two * onolithos* 1982

*All the Way From There to Here *Not Part of Literature *Trying to Be Married *Registration *More Than Friends *That Tenor of Which the Night Birds Are a Vehicle *Walking Home Across the Island *Mistrust of Bronze *Angelus *A Kind of World *Leaving Monolithos *Divorce *Remembering My Wife *Pewter *Night After Night *Hunger *Sects *They Call It Attempted Suicide *Miniscus *Who's There *Meaning Well *Template *Siege *Translation Into the Original *Burning and Fathering: Accounts of My Country *The Fashionable Heart *Breakfast *Losing *The Rainy Forests of Northern California *Il Mio Tesoro *Don Giovanni in Trouble *The Movies *Byzantium Burning *They Will Put My Body Into the Ground *Love Poem *Elephant Hunt in Guadalajara *Pavane *Loyalty *Song *Getting Ready *Sur Ponticello *The Cucumbers of Praxilla of Sicyon *A Description of Happiness in København *New Hampshire Marble *My Marriage With Mrs. Johnson *Heart Skidding *Games *My Graveyard in Tokyo *Alone on Christmas Eve in Japan *Textures *The Revolution *Mexico *Another Grandfather *Singing in My Difficult Mountains *Threshing the Fire

References

{{reflist 1982 poetry books American poetry collections