Repast: Tea, Lunch, and Cocktails

D. A. Powell's first three groundbreaking books Published together for the first time, D. A. Powell's landmark trilogy of Tea, Lunch, and Cocktails make up a three-course Divine Comedy for our day. With a new introduction by novelist David Leavitt, Repast presents a major achievement in contemporary poetry.

About the Author :
D. A. Powell is the author of five collections of poetry, including Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Chronic, winner of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Review :
Powell's long, stuttering line helps his extravagant imagination encompass the practical troubles long illness entails. No accessible poet of his generation is half as original, and no poet as original is this accessible. With his open-secret sexiness, his confident collage effects, and his grave subjects, Powell could reach far beyond the segmented audiences most poets now expect: poems like his can open up new fields, where fascinated readers might roam or graze. Stephen Burt, The New York Times Book Review A triptych of strangely beautiful poems kindled by the poet's riposte to the AIDS pandemic. Powell has developed an unmistakable style, the world of which allows him to be as literal or transformative--and as narrative or associative--as he needs to be. American Poet Powell's work shows canonical influence--Williams, cummings, H. D., and Eliot most notably--and yet maintains its own predominant voice, that of a truth teller who metes out accuracy with a fierce but well-spoken intelligence. BOMB " Powell's long, stuttering line helps his extravagant imagination encompass the practical troubles long illness entails. No accessible poet of his generation is half as original, and no poet as original is this accessible. With his open-secret sexiness, his confident collage effects, and his grave subjects, Powell could reach far beyond the segmented audiences most poets now expect: poems like his can open up new fields, where fascinated readers might roam or graze. "Stephen Burt, The New York Times Book Review" A triptych of strangely beautiful poems kindled by the poet's riposte to the AIDS pandemic. Powell has developed an unmistakable style, the world of which allows him to be as literal or transformative--and as narrative or associative--as he needs to be. "American Poet" Powell's work shows canonical influence--Williams, cummings, H. D., and Eliot most notably--and yet maintains its own predominant voice, that of a truth teller who metes out accuracy with a fierce but well-spoken intelligence. "BOMB"" "Powell's long, stuttering line helps his extravagant imagination encompass the practical troubles long illness entails. No accessible poet of his generation is half as original, and no poet as original is this accessible. With his open-secret sexiness, his confident collage effects, and his grave subjects, Powell could reach far beyond the segmented audiences most poets now expect: poems like his can open up new fields, where fascinated readers might roam or graze." --Stephen Burt, "The New York Times Book Review " "A triptych of strangely beautiful poems kindled by the poet's riposte to the AIDS pandemic. Powell has developed an unmistakable style, the world of which allows him to be as literal or transformative--and as narrative or associative--as he needs to be." --"American Poet " "Powell's work shows canonical influence--Williams, cummings, H. D., and Eliot most notably--and yet maintains its own predominant voice, that of a truth teller who metes out accuracy with a fierce but well-spoken intelligence." --"BOMB"