NOTHING STAYS PUT The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt

It must be especially difficult to write a biography of someone like the poet Amy Clampitt, who became prominent late in life but lived mostly unrecorded until then. Willard Spiegelman's work-around in this audiobook is to focus mostly on what we do know, which is primarily the writing and the last two decades of Clampitt's life. With Arthur Morey narrating Spiegelman's words and Cassandra Campbell narrating Clampitt's, the text is clear and evocative, and the author's fondness for his subject--personally and critically--enlivens the text and the performance. While both narrators are strong, Campbell has the advantage of delivering some excellent poetry. Clampitt's poetry was idiosyncratic, as was her journey to writing it, and this biography explicates both admirably. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2023]