Laurence Lieberman writes poems that successfully utilize techniques from every possible form of literature—including histories, travelogues, short stories, and epics. All the while, his lines maintain a deft balance of lyrical intensity, clear, methodical description, and the pure dialect of the characters living his poetry.
In Dark Songs: Slave House and Synagogue, Lieberman creates a narrative mosaic of the eastern Caribbean islands, ranging from St. Eustatius in the eighteenth century to the island of Grenada after the United States–led invasion in 1983. When he writes of African slaves, British governors, Dutch Jews, island guerillas, fallen Swiss nobility, and piratelike charter captains, the wealth of his details, the force, and often the truth behind his stories allow us to witness the whole human saga of the Caribbean.
With humor, absolute candor, and relentless observation, Lieberman has, as reviewer Samuel Maio says, “given is a new form of fiction in his poetry. He has created a singular art.”
“I have seldom read poetry with such a wide, vital range as Mr. Lieberman’s. His voice is unmistakable, whether he writes of synagogues, the packed guilt and dread of slave trafficking, scuba diving or Caribbean politics. Raw and subtle he is, and first-rate at all levels.”
—James Dickey
“Lieberman has evolved a poetry so unlike any contemporary that to see its graphic shape or to hear a brief few lines is to know instantly the writer. For many years he has written the tales of a traveler in islands—with a curiosity and amplitude that combines Darwin and John McPhee, if they wrote poetry! In ‘Wharf Angel,’ he speaks for this wonderful new volume which is full of ‘an ethic of high seas camaraderie.’ Lieberman’s poems are robust, positive, buoyant as Whitman, with the finicky clarity of Elizabeth Bishop. He entertains, he illumines, he guides—and Dark Songs delivers a master raconteur at the top of his form.”
—Dave Smith
“The perdurability of human courage and imagination in these brilliant songs makes them less despairing than affirmative, even redemptive. Dark Songs is a tour de force.”
—Sidney Lea
