Departures from Rilke

<p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Steven Cramer's newest book of poems </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Departures from Rilke</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> derives from his favorites among Rainer Maria Rilke's two volumes of </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>New Poems </em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>(1907/08). Cramer repurposes updates and sometimes upends the subject matter and style of the originals often leaving Rilke's premises almost altogether. A practice dating back to Thomas Wyatt's imports of Petrarch and including Robert Lowell's </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)>Imitations</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1)> (1961) Cramer's approach makes for an original poetry of personal and contemporary resonance while remaining alert to Rilke's chastening presence.</span><span>?</span></p>