Unfinished Building

Poetry by Toby Olson

June 1, 1993 • 6 x 9 • 96 pages • 978-1-56689-009-0

Toby Olson considers poetry no less than good talk about important things. With imagery as accessible as the most ordinary of birds and the commonest weather, he performs an alchemy of language. Unfinished Building shows us it is the details that make up a life, that hold the clues to meaning.

Reviews

 

“Toby Olson’s characteristic power as a story-teller here proves a humane and perceptive voice in these remarkable poems. As ever it is the complex web of living that engages him and he defines it with consummate care and attention. He remembers with a love that heals us all.” —Robert Creeley

“Toby Olson’s poetry occupies a powerfully idiosyncratic terrain somewhere between narrative and song.” —Armand Schwerner

“A great master of the lyrical narrative, as would be expected from this gifted novelist. The poems of Unfinished Building move effortlessly between present perceptions (often of natural scenes) and memories, the two strongly woven together by clear thought and intense feeling.” —Jackson Mac Low