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The last shift : poems / by Philip Levine ; edited by Edward Hirsch.

by Levine, Philip, 1928-2015.

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Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.

American poetry -- 21st century.

9780451493262 (hc.)

"This is a Borzoi book"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Inheritance -- My brother, the artist, at seven -- Your turn -- 1934 -- Leaves -- The absent gardener -- History -- Assembly -- Tall tales -- Pennsylvania pastoral -- Office hours -- More than you gave -- The future -- Immortal birds -- I was married on the fiftieth birthday of Pablo Neruda -- South -- The privilege of power -- A wall in Naples and nothing more -- Sicilian voices -- Anatole -- Albion -- The gatekeeper's children -- Nightship -- In another country -- By the waters of Llobregat -- A dozen dawn songs, plus one -- Urban myths -- Rain in winter -- The angel Bernard -- Godspell -- Froggy Frenchman -- Louie lies -- Zero for conduct -- The gift of winter -- A home away -- Postcards -- Turkeys -- How to get there -- The last shift.

The final collection of new poems from one of our finest and most beloved poets. The poems touch all of the events and places that meant the most to Philip Levine. There are lyrical poems about his family and childhood, the magic of nighttime and the power of dreaming; tough poems about the heavy shift work at Detroit's auto plants, the Nazis, and bosses of all kinds; telling poems about his heroes - jazz players, artists, and working people of every description, even children. Other poems celebrate places and things he loved: the gifts of winter, dawn, a wall in Naples, an English hilltop, Andalusia. And he makes peace with Detroit: "Slow learner that I am, it took me one night/to discover that rain in New York City/is just like rain in Detroit. It gets you wet." It is a peace that comes to full fruition in a moving goodbye to his home town in the final poem in the collection, "The Last Shift. " Philip Levine (1928 - 2015) was best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno. He was awarded the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection The Simple Truth. He was Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012.

American poetry.

Hirsch, Edward.

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