Olds, Sharon

The Gold Cell: Poems

ISBN: 0394747704
New York, NY, USA: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987. First Softcover Edition, Second Printing. Softcover. Signed, dated & placed by Sharon Olds. “Sitting in the car at the end of summer, my / feet on the dashboard, the children in the back / laughing, my calf gleaming like a crescent moon, / I notice the hairs are sparser on my legs, / thinning out as I approach middle age– / not like some youth whose vigorous hairs / pulse out of his skin with power while he is / taking a man's genitals off as / slowly as possible, carefully, so as / not to let him get away, to / get all he knows out of him first– / names, locations, human maps of / human cities, in our common tongue and / written with our usual alphabet so he can / rule those maps, change the names of streets and / line the people along them to turn the / small cells of their faces up to him, / the sun on him like gliding. / This is what I cannot understand, the / innocence of his own body, its / goodness and health, the hairs like sweet / molasses pouring from the follicles of his forearm and / cooling in great looping curls / above the sex of the man he is undoing as / he himself was made.”--Sharon Olds, “In the Cell,” pg. 9. Sharon Olds (b. 1942), is a San Francisco-born poet whose work is deeply influenced and inspired by Galway Kinnel (1927-2014), Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980), and Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000). Olds’s work explores a wide range of topics and themes. Her collection Odes (2016) used the venerable poetic mode to address numerous topics including gender, age, and sexual politics. One Secret Thing (2009) explored similar veins of autobiography, personal myth and dream. Olds released a collection of selected poems, Strike Sparks, in 2004. Collecting poems from over two decades, the book received the National Book Critics Circle Award and was widely praised as a good introduction to her major themes. Olds is known for writing intensely personal, emotionally scathing poetry which graphically depicts family life as well as global political events. Olds is the author of twelve books of poetry, most recently Balladz (October 2022). Arias (2019) was short-listed for the 2020 Griffin Poetry Prize, and Stag’s Leap (2012), which included poems that explored details of her divorce, received the Pulitzer Prize and England’s T. S. Eliot Prize. Offered today is the1987 collection of poetry The Gold Cell. Olds’ third collection of poetry, The Gold Cell explores themes of everyday life, including family dynamics, childhood experiences, and aspects of sexuality. Olds employs a deeply personal style, often blurring the lines between the public and private spheres, which has led to comparisons with confessional poets like Anne Sexton (1928-1974) and Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). The collection is divided into four parts, each examining different facets of existence, from the poet's relationship to the world to the intricate ties between parents and children. A great poetic rarity from a criminally underrated poet. From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), poet, editor, and professor in the University of Michigan Department of English Language and Literature. Signed, dated & placed at title page by Sharon Olds in thin black ink: “Sharon Olds / Jan 88 / Ann Arbor.” First softcover edition as indicated at copyright page, second printing as stated thereon. In very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, light smudging to front and back covers & spine; minor scratching to same. Very Fine. [Item #8497]

Price: $50.00