cover image The Common Man

The Common Man

Maurice Manning, . . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $22 (96pp) ISBN 978-0-547-24961-2

This fourth book by Yale Younger Poet's Prize–winner Manning is, like his previous books, a unified sequence, though this one takes an autobiographical turn, recounting the Kentucky of the poet's childhood, evoking “the first time I heard the story// I was born to tell, the first I knew/ that I was in the story, too.” The poems are friendly, if also full of sadness, as in “Old Negro Spiritual,” which recalls a lost friend, “his voice, the way/ it sounded, a song inside a sound;// it hurt to hear it then, and it hurts/ that I can't hear it anymore.” While recalling his private world, Manning also reaches out to what everyone has in common: “not a day goes by/ that isn't stabbed with common sorrow,// with death, regret, and loneliness,/ and some of us get a bigger portion// of the little tragedies. That's not/ uncommon, though, now is it?” But there are happy memories too, or sad ones tinged with happiness, as in a story about a donkey named “Clyde.” All set in couplets, the poems have a way of running together, but most readers will find themselves charmed by Manning's smart, companionable voice. (Apr.)