Pity the Beautiful

Pity the Beautiful: Poems by Dana Gioia, 68 pages

Humorously, Dana Gioia begins this collection with a celebration of an unopened gift.  

     Why needlessly unfold and bring to light

     the elegant contrivances that hide

     the costly secret still waiting inside?

Within this package are a lively series of poetic vignettes, and within that package an array of human experiences.

     And let the old be touched by youth's

     Wayward astonishment at learning something new...

Gioia is well aware that words can be deceptive.

     Symbols betray us.

     They are always more and less than what

     Is really meant.

But he also knows that they are necessary.

     We need to talk, though talking breaks our hearts.

And revelatory.

     An ancient memory we can't dismiss.