NONFICTION

Belmont

by Stephen Burt
Graywolf. Jun. 2013. 112p. ISBN 9781555976446. pap. $15. POETRY
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In his third collection (after Popular Music and Parallel Play), poet and critic Burt again directs his attention to everyday objects (brussels sprouts, tea towels, socks) and suburban life (curbside recycling, Subarus). The poems, however, are anything but mundane. Burt possesses a keenly empathetic imagination that allows him to inhabit and speak for his subjects. Whether channeling a benevolent stapler ("In hope that what I join/ nobody will put asunder,/ I preside eagerly over/ every union I encounter") or a fatalistic Muppet ("somebody bigger/ than we can ever get is pulling the strings"), he infuses his monologs with poignancy and wit. Burt's skill with assonance, rhyme, and other devices of traditional prosody lends an authoritative tone throughout, yet his voice remains earnest enough to imagine in your ear.
VERDICT Grounded in the physical world, the poems recognize and enshrine the wonder of consciousness itself and follow wherever it might lead. When Burt, a young father, writes "children are taller than ideas," you know his concern for the former in no way inhibits his pursuit of the latter.
Reviewed by Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY , Jun 01, 2013
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