"Steeped deep in the veins of personal memory, the poems gathered here are chronicles of the poet’s life and loves."—Matthew Shenoda, author of Tahrir Suite: Poems
"This is a stunning collection of poems draped in grief, remembrance, and celebration. Amidst the impossible sadness of losing loved ones, Hazo also drafts a new ars poetica, love letters to literature and art, and a damning critique of the catalog of the crimes of the American state. This is a towering collection."—Glenn Shaheen, author of Energy Corridor
"Samuel Hazo's poems quickly engage a reader and proceed with wit, wisdom, irony and insightful commentary on subjects one can relate to—mostly poignantly the loss of his wife and 9/11."—Peter Makuck, Poet, Essayist, Fiction Writer and Editor
"Hazo says, 'Poets speak stones.' His wondrous poems are a stone home, a warm familiar space, a welcoming graciousness for long dwelling in."—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Cast Away: Poems for Our Time
"If there is a 'force that through the green fuse drives the flower' of poetry in Pittsburgh, it is Sam Hazo as founder and director of the International Poetry Forum who for decades brought to the city great writers from across the United State and around the world. It is also the force working its way in his own many fine books of poetry and prose, including this one, his most recent."—John Balaban, Poet, Translator and author of Locusts at the Edge of Summer
"Reading Sam Hazo’s latest collection is like being invited into his home. With fluency, wit and exhilarating specificity he looks back on a life well-lived, returning often to a recurring motif—messages to a life partner now gone. This is the work of a distinguished poet and an engaging man."—Laurie Graham, author of Rebuilding the House
Description
In Hazo’s latest collection, The Less Said, the Truer, he brings together new poems as well as selections from three previous books—They Rule the World (2016), When Not Yet is Now (2019), and The Next Time We Saw Paris (2020). The author’s poignant reflections on life and death, love and loss, and age and memory allow the poems to be deeply personal while also connecting with the everyday experiences of readers. Influenced by America’s incessant wars since 2003 and the militaristic influence they have had on society, Hazo offers insight that disrupts complacency and returns us to our true natures. In keeping with his poetic style, there are no “passenger words” in these poems. Every word counts.
About the Author
Samuel Hazo is founder and director of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, where he is also McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University. His books include The Next Time We Saw Paris, When Not Yet Is Now, And the Time Is, The Time Remaining, If Nobody Calls, I’m Not Home, and The Power of Less. Among his translations are Adonis’s The Pages of Day and Night and Denis de Rougemont’s The Growl of Deeper Waters.
5.5 x 8, 128 pages
October 2022