Sing Me a Song, She Said

In this, histenth and perhaps final book of poems, Paul Marianiacclaimed poet, biographer,critic and teacherreflects on his life, returning in memory to the 1940s andending some eighty-five years later with the present. No wonder, then, that somany of the poems strike an elegiac note, some with humor, some with sadness,some with wonder, some with regretand all asking questions for which there areat best only further questions. Here are poemsabout growing up in the tenements of New Yorks East Side, poems about theerosion of his family on Long Island, elegies for those young and old who havepassed, and all these years later, along the Connecticut River in westernMassachusettshis home for the past sixty yearspoems reflecting on age andfrailty as they take their toll, as he turns to faith and family to see himselfthrough another day. In the midst ofall this is the collections central section: a verse drama about growing up ina fractured family back in the 1950s, as finally the poet tries to sing a songfor his family and especially his mother, long gone now, who asked him to sing forher all those years ago, which he has tried to do while the sun sets and,blessedly, theres still time to sing.