The Vineyard - by Jonathan Galassi (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A delightful account of the seasons in a North Fork cottage and its garden, in a domestic idyll of hardy plants and neighbors, love and loss, and acceptance of the life we've made The deliciously book-length story of "The Vineyard" is set in and around the little house in Oyster Ponds where the poet spends the summer months. In free flowing lines and pages that turn with the calendar, the poem unspools impressions that seem confided rather than written, as Galassi observes the "pretend peace'' of this quiet village house and garden, his oasis in the great swirl of dailiness. Themes and imagery recur, swerve, and transform as he watches the vineyard next door come alive, thrive, and die away, only to return the next year, different but the same, in our time of plague, climate threat, and a culture that too often seeks to tear down what is most beautiful and lasting. But this book is not a complaint or a raging against the dying of the light: it is an honest record of dailiness, of gratitude, of finding one's center. From the wisteria vines that drop suckers on the lawn to the history of farms and businesses around the village, it becomes an ample container for Jonathan's life: we're having a chat with him about all he sees and dreams, about tending the plants and cooking and gossiping, about loving men and growing older, about his mother and Vita Sackville-West and bike-riding and having daughters and regrets. The narrative swells and touches us in its surprising turns; sometimes whole poems swim up and hold a page in the midst of its narrative, reminding us how writing practice anchors the quotidian. This intimate, unhurried, and unpretentious life poem will stand as the central work of Jonathan Galassi's career"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A delightful account of the seasons in a house and its garden near the sea, a domestic idyll of hardy plants and neighbors, outer and inner weather, love and loss, and taking stock of the life we've made

The delicious long-form poem "The Vineyard" is set in and around the quasi-fictional Long Island village of Oyster Ponds, where the poet spends the summer months. In free-flowing lines and pages that turn with the calendar, the poem unspools impressions that seem confided rather than written, as Galassi observes the "pretend peace'' of this quiet house and garden, his oasis in the turbulence of dailiness. Themes and imagery recur, swerve, and transform as he watches the vineyard next door come alive, thrive, and die away only to return the next year, different but the same, in our time of plague, climate threat, and a culture that too often seems to attack what is enduring and fundamental.

But this book is not a complaint or a raging against the dying of the light: it is an honest record of seeing and feeling in a beloved place, of gratitude, of searching for one's center. As the poet describes the wisteria vine that sends out suckers into the lawn and the long and complex tale of the village and its inhabitants, this modern eclogue becomes an ample container for Jonathan's life: he's having a chat with us about all he notices and dreams, about tending his plants and cooking and gossiping, about loving a man and aging, about his mother and Vita Sackville-West and bike-riding and having regrets. The narrative swells and touches us in its surprising turns; sometimes whole poems swim up and hold a page in the midst of its ongoing narrative, reminding us of the ways that writing can shape the quotidian.

This intimate, unhurried, and unpretentious poem of past and present will stand as the central work of Jonathan Galassi's career.

Review Quotes

"A heartening long poem about the fruits of a life--cultivated through experience, refined by love and labor, and gratified with leisure and beauty. 'I've hung my garden tools on the wall / under the arbor, ' the speaker writes, 'my trophies, my insignia of life and time.' Weaving narratives of relationships, books, and houses, with refreshing candor and compassionate demeanor, the Galassi of The Vineyard is the best company, scintillating and tender. A pleasure, a wonder, an awakening to live alongside it." --Richie Hofmann, author of The Bronze Arms

"The Vineyard is an unexpectedly redemptive book. Its long title poem unfolds as a love letter to the same island that flowered once for Dutch sailors' eyes, opens along the way to reflect the author's personal, yet representative sentimental education, continues in tribute to tutelary friends and neighbors, and becomes finally a testament to the ever timely power of the pastoral as a humanizing ideal. Galassi couldn't have known when writing it just how timely, but the poem knew, which is what a poet is for." --Douglas Crase, author of The Revisionist & The Astropastorals

"[Galassi] revitalizes the pastoral tradition in this luscious, witty, and poignant book-length poem chronicling a summer in a Long Island village he calls Oyster Ponds. . . . Everything flows and flowers in supple lines sparkling with nature's palette as well as the hues and shades of thoughts and feelings. Elegies and other poems-within-the-poem spring up, concluding with a celebration of a marriage. Candid, bemused, grateful, and awed, Galassi embraces moments painful, joyful, and wonderfully ordinary." --Booklist

"Watchful and intelligent. . . . By turns appreciative and elegiac as the poet ruminates on place and the changing seasons, lending memorializing and pastoral notes to spare meditations. . . . This pulses with feeling beneath its placid surface." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

JONATHAN GALASSI is the author of three earlier books of poetry, including Left-handed, and has published translations of the Italian poets Giacomo Leopardi, Primo Levi, and Eugenio Montale. A lifelong inmate of the publishing business, he lives in New York City and on Long Island.