Interrogations at Noon

Interrogations at Noon by Dana Gioia, 69 pages

Dana Gioia's influence has been more the result of his criticism than his poetry, but this collection shows that the latter should not be ignored.  Full of surprises, the poems span a wide gamut of styles and inspirations, from sacred domestic spaces and objects to suicidal surrealists, from a libretto for an opera based on Murnau's Nosferatu to translations of Seneca (also a suicide) to the patrons of an upscale bar overlooking a marina, which brings us the collection's funniest lines:

     But tonight I hope they prosper.

     Are they shallow?  I don't care.

     Jealousy is all too common,

     Style and beauty much too rare.