Night Train to Memphis - by Richard Tillinghast (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

To see inside, was Tillinghast's succinct response to the question, Why do you write? This short answer holds the key to his unstinting vitality, in poetry: curiosity, observation, and reflection.

Night Train to Memphis addresses several recurring concerns. A sense of mortality runs throughout, including the title poem and the last poem in the book, "Canzona di Ringraziamento," a "song of gratitude," which is the title of one of the movements of Beethoven's string quartet in A minor, opus 132. The poem concludes: "Give thanks / for this music that says no matter what, / we're not done yet," suggesting that though Tillinghast is intensely aware of his approaching mortality and is engaged in summing up and coming to terms with many of the events in his life, Night Train to Memphis may very well not be the last we'll hear from him. At an age when many of the writers of his generation have gone silent and are resting on their laurels, this poet is still active and vibrant, writing at the height of his powers.

"The Feast of the Hungry" addresses the poverty and homelessness that plague our society, seen from a historical, even mythical perspective. "When the Chinese Came to Our Village," a dramatic monologue spoken by a Tibetan refugee, describes the callous take-over of her village by the Chinese Communists, whose egalitarian rhetoric thinly masks brutal conquest, exploitation, and a ruthless determination to destroy the native culture.

Review Quotes

"'All of us are in transit, ' says one line of this beautiful, luminous volume of new poems by Richard Tillinghast; Night Train to Memphis gives us new, powerful work, the artistry and sheer eloquence of a poet who, in his eighties, is writing the best poetry of his life--and the poetry of his youth and middle age remains as fine as anything we have. Yet Night Train is an advance on it all, a gift, profoundly pleasurable and wayfaring in the best ways, each poem like a 'bird of astonishing colors, ' and somehow, reading through the separate journeys out, we are given a strangely consoling, happily renewing vision inward, even as that vision dares to face terrible realities:

The moth has the briefest moment,

then the trout, and the nighthawk...

Then what, the trees?

Then the river, the moon,

then the mortal stars.

This is a great book. I loved it and I will be trumpeting its virtues far and wide."--Richard Bausch

"Characteristic of Richard Tillinghast's genius, Night Train to Memphis gives us comfort with a beautiful strangeness. Imagine what you know, said Shelley. Richard does just that. He welcomes us to a poem, treats us like kin, then quietly changes our lives for the better."--Roger Rosenblatt

"Richard Tillinghast's poems remind us that, over the course of a life, one may be deprived of many things--like the stolen possessions in 'To Whoever Broke into My Cabin' or a loved city recalled from childhood. In 'Night Train to Memphis, ' melodies often redeem these losses--not surprising for poet who is also an accomplished musician. Tunes by Roy Acuff, Johnny Mercer, Ella Fitzgerald, and Phineas Newborn mingle with the strains of Beale St. and 'gypsies playing jazz.' And it is the music of poetry, in Tillinghast's deft hands, that binds the whole. Now in his ninth decade, Tillinghast figures among the songwriters and wordsmiths of his Tennessee birthplace: 'I was one of those, I still am, / closing the circle by keeping the circle open.' His songs will edify and move you."--David Yezzi

Praise for Richard Tillinghast:

"Exquisitely plainspoken, clear-eyed and wise, Tillinghast is keenly aware of the histories and stories that shape our worlds; these poems roam and wonder and find homes for us everywhere. "You gave me a compass," the poet writes, "and here it is / on my table / pointing north.""--Joe Wilkins

"Tillinghast's cadences feel deeply, richly, surprisingly true to life. And abundant in the heart's intelligence."--Rosanna Warren

"His poetry is infused with dark humor and casual wonder. Lyrical, conversational, clear-eyed and mystical, the poems in BLUE IF ONLY I COULD TELL YOU are the kind we'll return to again and again. This is a book that has been inspired by the present, informed by the past, and is sending a love note, while sounding a warning, to the future."--Laura Kasischke

"In easy, relaxed cadences, Tillinghast's poems carry their ethical meditations on an uneasy presence on earth, fully aware of injustice and exploitation, yet reveling in the ephemeras of joy."--Garrett Hongo

About the Author

Richard Tillinghast's latest book, Blue If Only I Could Tell You, won the 2022 White Pine Press Poetry Prize. Night Train to Memphis is his 14th poetry collection, in addition to five books of creative nonfiction. His poems have appeared in the American Poetry Review, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Paris Review, The New Republic, Best American Poetry and elsewhere. He is recipient of the Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarship as well as grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Richard currently lives in Hawaii and spends his summers in Tennessee.