The Couple

In his Rider trilogy, Mark Rudman perfected a mixed genre form - combining dialogue, lyric and prose. While employing some of the same techniques that have become "signature Rudman" - the compact, colloquial line, dazzling shifts from popular culture to classical history - The Couple also breaks new ground. This new book is a collection of discrete poems organized around four poem sequences, "Long-Stemmed Rose," "The Shallowness of the Lake," "Perseus Surprised, Andromeda Unbound," and "Fragile Craft." As the title suggests, the theme of relationships, both dark and erotically-charged, emerges here as Rudman's focus. The couples in the book include parents, lovers, a young boy and girl in elementary school, Perseus and Andromeda, Mary Ure and Robert Shaw, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. "In The Couple, Mark Rudman has woven an extraordinarily rich and highly original tapestry. It's an impressive achievement."-Harold Pinter, author of Betrayal "Mark Rudman combines merciless honesty with a rare humor and a wonderful, expansive sense of modern life. His lightly worn, democratic erudition (equally fascinated by Hollywood gossip and classical mythology) is a constant revelation, and the casual brilliance of his writing is a joy."-James Lasdun, poetry editor of Grand Street