Blue Night

In Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses, Larry Kimmel brings his unique blend of east-west aesthetics into full fruition. Kimmel has always displayed a wide range of subject matter in his highly imagistic style, but here we find, for the first time, a lightly suggested metaphysics, somewhat reminiscent of Cid Corman. While Blue Night is a wonderfully woven tapestry of variety, complexity and unity, the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses is a collage of cherita, a recent assimilation of the haiku and tanka techniques brought into an English-language short verse form. Kimmel has made the cherita his own, using it both as a nano-narrative and lyrical vehicle. Added to this collection is The Temperature of Love, a free verse sequence hinting at a disquieted mind that finds an uneasy, sometimes resolution. This second edition of Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses is a fascinating journey into the mind-scape of a poet, one who is acquainted with the night in all its cosmic ramifications.