Take a Literary Journey --
BY THE WAY
Poems over the Years
by David Radavich
"David Radavich has found the perfect poetic technique for the expression of his unfailingly interesting take on life. This is splendidly controlled free verse which takes the reader into fascinating alleyways . . . There are many 'Yes, yes, that's exactly how it is' poems." - Orbis
About the Author:
In
addition to By the Way, DAVID RADAVICH has published poetry
collections entitled Slain
Species (Court Poetry Press, UK) and Greatest Hits (Pudding
House, 2000) , as well as several chapbooks and a wide variety of
poetry in the U.S. and abroad. Among his published plays are Nevertheless
. . . : A Romance in Two Acts (Aran
Press, 1988) and four shorter plays. America Bound: An Epic for Our
Time (Plain View, 2007) combines poetry and drama into a narrative of
American culture from World War II to the present. His latest volume is Canonicals:
Love’s Hours, published by Finishing Line Press (2009).
Radavich's plays have been performed by the
Charleston Alley Theatre, First Stage (
ORDERING INFORMATION:
By
the Way, by David Radavich. ISBN 0-9658045-0-X
(Paperback). $12.00.
ISBN 0-9658045-1-8 (Hardback). $20.00.
On-Line: barnesandnoble.com,
amazon.com
Comments on BY THE WAY
From the review by
David Skinner:
"Radavich is
certainly vigorous . . . . He chooses his words carefully and pulls his
lines together for the utmost impact and clarity. Rarely obtuse, hardly
ever abstruse, Radavich delivers his lines with the clarity of hindsight and
the simple elegance of a poet given neither to the sentimentality of the
confessional nor the ostentatious verbosity of the Romantics.
"Overall, By the Way has a
feel similar to Simic's Pulitzer Prize winning Walking
the Black Cat, somehow concrete in the abstract, building clear images from
wind and fog to illuminate parts of the world accessible only through poetry. .
. . By the Way is certainly a solid winner. The tone
and imagery captured between its covers certainly put me into places I would
expect to find in a Hopper painting. Clear, concise, deliberate verse
makes By the Way one of the stars in the constellation of my heaven of
poesy." - Prism Quarterly, Spring 2006
From the review by
Charles Waugaman:
"David Radavich has
given us a thought-provoking and intriguing volume. Many pieces contain
fine music that glows with reading aloud. The initial poem, 'Refugee,'
finds us where we inevitably are - By the Way. The final 'Sea-Canticle'
is not an end, but another beginning. The stanzas in 'Kansas Canticle'
are crisp as starched and ironed linen, intense as Willa Cather's poignant
short story, 'A Wagner Matinee.' In 'Egyptian Days,' the reader is
brought so onto location that the exotic spicy air is pungently present; wind
in the palms almost audible. The love poems are fresh, still in bud,
waiting for the reader's mind to tease them open . . . . Here is a book
challenging to the thoughtful and educational to fellow poets. An excellent purchase." - Time of Singing,
Summer 1998
Responses from
Readers:
"The book cannot be
read just once. I find the poems increasingly fascinating as I read them again
and again." - Allen Raymer Reesor
"The strong lyric voice and sense of
place is lovely." - Jennifer Phillips
"I love the poems, devoured
the whole thing quickly - too quickly - when it first arrived and have returned
to it many times to reread poems I especially like." - Judy Powers
"I'm getting such a kick out of
'Mercy'. . . . From its opening, striking, two-barreled adjectives to its
closing teasing enigma, it delights me. I've made a list of antitheses - just
for fun. . . ." - Frances McColl
"I sat down the glance through [By
the Way] while waiting for a batch of cookies to bake. I became so
engrossed that I didn't hear the timer go off and that batch of cookies got
burned. I didn't mind. Thank you for writing!" - Molly Vivian