{"product_id":"night-train-to-memphis-9781945680793","title":"Night Train to Memphis","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo see inside\u003c\/i\u003e, was Tillinghast's succinct response to the question, Why do you write? This short answer holds the key to his unstinting vitality, in poetry: curiosity, observation, and reflection.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNight Train to Memphis\u003c\/i\u003e addresses several recurring concerns. A sense of mortality runs throughout, including the title poem and the last poem in the book, \"Canzona di Ringraziamento,\" a \"song of gratitude,\" which is the title of one of the movements of Beethoven's string quartet in A minor, opus 132. The poem concludes: \"Give thanks \/ for this music that says no matter what, \/ we're not done yet,\" suggesting that though Tillinghast is intensely aware of his approaching mortality and is engaged in summing up and coming to terms with many of the events in his life, \u003ci\u003eNight Train to Memphis\u003c\/i\u003e may very well not be the last we'll hear from him. At an age when many of the writers of his generation have gone silent and are resting on their laurels, this poet is still active and vibrant, writing at the height of his powers.\"The Feast of the Hungry\" addresses the poverty and homelessness that plague our society, seen from a historical, even mythical perspective. \"When the Chinese Came to Our Village,\" a dramatic monologue spoken by a Tibetan refugee, describes the callous take-over of her village by the Chinese Communists, whose egalitarian rhetoric thinly masks brutal conquest, exploitation, and a ruthless determination to destroy the native culture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRichard Tillinghast's latest book, \u003ci\u003eBlue If Only I Could Tell You\u003c\/i\u003e, won the 2022 White Pine Press Poetry Prize. \u003ci\u003eNight Train to Memphis\u003c\/i\u003e is his 14th poetry collection, in addition to five books of creative nonfiction. His poems have appeared in the \u003ci\u003eAmerican Poetry Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eParis Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e Best American Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e and elsewhere. He is recipient of the Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarship as well as grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Richard currently lives in Hawaii and spends his summers in Tennessee.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"White Pine Press (NY)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51298593308946,"sku":"9781945680793","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_7d0c48c5-198a-460e-8584-551ab190d4f9.jpg?v=1747828942","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/night-train-to-memphis-9781945680793","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}