The Day Underneath the Day FROM THE PUBLISHER
The first book of poetry by a promising young writer .
Gifted with a vivid and exact skill, Young's writing resembles an
intricate anatomy lesson. His powers of observation probe the small
energies of the natural world. Again and again the ordinary details of
life transform themselves under the delicate pressure of his words-the
movement of birds' wings, the color and texture of tropical flowers,
the study of the ocean waves, the "scalpel of light" cutting through
the beginning of the day. The language of Young's poems evokes an
ultimate sense of place through a gorgeous marriage of tone and diction
that echoes James Merrill and Amy Clampitt. As he meticulously maps out
human passions and emotions, he explores both the surfaces and depths
of everything that he surveys. His confident and polished verse unfolds
intricate layers of landscape, seeking the order that lies beneath the
unruly patterns of our lives.
About the Author:C. Dale Young grew up in the Caribbean and south Florida. He received
both M.F.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Florida. He now
practices medicine at the University of California in San Francisco and
also serves as the poetry editor of New England Review. His work has
been published in The Best American Poetry 1996, The New Republic, The
Paris Review, Partisan Review, Poetry, and Yale Review.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
This book is dignified, subtle, feelingful, and delicate. I admire the
understated thoughtfulness of many of these poems, their willingness to
flirt with the metaphysical while remaining deeply motivated by the
visual, tactile world.
— Rosanna Warren
Accomplishedﾽ. His style is sensuous and fine, with a special care for
the exact word. — Donald Justice
The Day Underneath the Day is very much a book of inquiry: how do we
negotiate safe passage over the mare incognita that is variously art
and the making of it, the body and the mystery of it, identity both
inherited and imposed? These are poems of formal grace and slant
homage, map-and-dazzle, a vision as lush as it
is—refreshingly—exacting.
— Carl Phillips
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