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Without: Poems
by Donald Hall"It is a remarkably beautiful and generous book, beautiful in all its terrible specifics of the daily ordeal of death, and generous to the memory of the force of life his wife possessed. These poems by Donald Hall are written to and for his wife, Jane Kenyon, who died in 1995. The first half sketches her illness and death; the second half addresses her in the ensuing year. Unlike Thomas Hardy's elegies to his wife, Emma, "they celebrate a marriage of deep intimacy and great happiness" (John Bayley). Hall speaks to us all of grief- as a husband and as a poet lamenting the death of a poet. Without is his greatest achievement.
Without a Claim: Poems
by Grace Schulman&“Without a Claim is a modern Book of Psalms. Indeed, the glory in these radiant sacred songs meld an art of high music with a nuanced love of the world unlike any we&’ve heard before. No matter your mood upon entering this world you&’ll soon be grateful, and enchanted. In any such house of praise, God herself must be grateful.&” —Philip Schultz, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Failure and The God of Loneliness Grace Schulman, who has been called &“a vital and permanent poet&” (Harold Bloom), makes new the life she finds in other cultures and in the distant past. In Without a Claim, she masterfully encompasses music, faith, art, and history. The title poem alludes to the Montauk sachem who sold land without any concept of rights to property, and meditates on our own notion of ownership: &“No more than geese in flight, shadowing the lawn, / cries piercing wind, do we possess these fields, / given the title, never the dominion.&” She traces the illusion of rights, from land to objects, from our loves to our very selves. Alternatively, she finds permanence in art, whether in galleries or on cave walls, and in music, whether in the concert hall, on the streets of New York, or in the waves at sea.
Without Beginning or End (Hugh MacLennan Poetry Series #86)
by Jacqueline BourqueIn my palliative months / the cormorant leaves me / at peace, disintegrating / with the exhalation of a BuddhaWithout Beginning or End is Jacqueline Bourque’s final testament to a life well lived, written in the wake of a terminal cancer diagnosis.Deeply inspired by her Acadian upbringing along the ocean shores of New Brunswick, these are poems populated by aerialists, painters, and the spirit of Charles Baudelaire, who connects the poet to “the ligatures of life.” Those ligatures in turn connect her with family in the collection’s remarkable title suite, bringing new life to a past that continues to resonate in the present.Without Beginning or End is a book about love, friendship, art, and the human condition. Beautiful, and poignantly human, it is an emotionally charged parting gift to loved ones and readers alike.
Without Ceremony
by Angela CarrThe poems in Without Ceremony celebrate the fleeting everyday encounters of city life as well as the layers of history that are revealed when we attempt to hold on to those encounters. Embracing the present before it vanishes into history, Carr's new collection is a clarifying elixer for our time.
Without Ceremony
by Angela CarrCentred on the everyday, and crafted without preamble or pretension, the poems in Without Ceremony are a literary pastiche—a thematic mosaic not unlike tracks on an album. Amidst a timeless cast of characters from Lucretius and Eva Hesse, to Joan Mitchell and St. Augustine, Carr illuminates what it means to truly know something and questions how certain knowledge becomes valued over others. Without Ceremony spotlights the gendered division of ideas and the inherent strength of language to harm and oppress, as well as elevate. Within these pages, passing encounters become rare spectacles, and the ordinary, without ambitions of grandeur or ceremony, is celebrated, making Carr's new collection a clarifying elixir for our time.Praise for Angela Carr:“Angela Carr’s words in Without Ceremony point their arrows toward a ledge where communication knows “both failure and perfection at once.” Her poetry isn’t invested in naming things (perhaps this is what is unceremonious) because things, even thingness, and their energies change so rapidly. Carr creates a field of verb-rich arriving where confessional exasperations are tried and transformed in pleasurable abstraction. She summons other women poets and artists (Hesse, Dickinson, Mitchell) not to revere them but to create a queer chorus of those who can bring us to see that what seems holy is simply ordinary.” —Stacy Szymaszek, author of A Year From Today“Angela Carr’s poems spark a startling immediacy directly to the heart of everyday encounters and how poems form “under the moment of language.” Her work gives us the rare and complex gift of how to move out of the house of regret amidst the instability of the contemporary. Here in Without Ceremony are interior conversations with the likes of Lucretius, Dickinson, Moorman, that show how readers become writers and how words feel when put on us by others, which ones we choose to wear, which to strip off. Let Without Ceremony become one of those books “that are familiar as friends,” always present to puncture through the space of the day to the intimacy we need to construct joy, a holding area for the moving moment.” —Lee Ann Brown, author of Other Archer
Without End: New and Selected Poems
by Adam ZagajewskiThis book draws from each of Adam Zagajewski's English-language collections, both in and out of print--Tremor, Canvas, and Mysticism for Beginners-- and features new work that is among his most refreshing and rewarding. These poems, lucidly translated, share the vocation that allows us, in Zagajewski's words, "to experience astonishment and to stop still in that astonishment for a long moment or two."
Witness, I Am
by Gregory ScofieldWitness, I Am is divided into three gripping sections of new poetry from one of Canada's most recognized poets. The first part of the book, "Dangerous Sound," contains contemporary themed poems about identity and belonging, undone and rendered into modern sound poetry. "Muskrat Woman," the middle part of the book, is a breathtaking epic poem that considers the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women through the reimagining and retelling of a sacred Cree creation story. The final section of the book, "Ghost Dance," raids the autobiographical so often found in Scofield's poetry, weaving the personal and universal into a tapestry of sharp poetic luminosity. From "Killer," Scofield eerily slices the dreadful in with the exquisite: "I could, this day of proficient blooms, / take your fingers, / tie them down one by one. This one for the runaway, / this one for the joker, / this one for the sass-talker, / this one for the judge, / this one for the jury. / Oh, I could kill you."
The Witness Of Poetry (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures #38)
by Czeslaw MiloszCzeslaw Milosz, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature, reflects upon poetry's testimony to the events of our tumultuous time. From the special perspectives of "my corner of Europe," a classical and Catholic education, a serious encounter with Marxism, and a life marked by journeys and exiles, Milosz has developed a sensibility at once warm and detached, flooded with specific memory yet never hermetic or provincial. Milosz addresses many of the major problems of contemporary poetry, beginning with the pessimism and negativism prompted by reductionist interpretations of man's animal origins. He examines the tendency of poets since Mallarmé to isolate themselves from society, and stresses the need for the poet to make himself part of the great human family. One chapter is devoted to the tension between classicism and realism; Milosz believes poetry should be "a passionate pursuit of the real." In "Ruins and Poetry" he looks at poems constructed from the wreckage of a civilization, specifically that of Poland after the horrors of World War II. Finally, he expresses optimism for the world, based on a hoped-for better understanding of the lessons of modern science, on the emerging recognition of humanity's oneness, and on mankind's growing awareness of its own history.
Wittgenstein and the Creativity of Language
by Sebastian Sunday Grève Jakub MáchaThis volume is the first to focus on a particular complex of questions that have troubled Wittgenstein scholarship since its very beginnings. The authors re-examine Wittgenstein’s fundamental insights into the workings of human linguistic behaviour, its creative extensions and its philosophical capabilities, as well as his creative use of language. It offers insight into a variety of topics including painting, politics, literature, poetry, literary theory, mathematics, philosophy of language, aesthetics and philosophical methodology.
Wittgenstein's Artillery: Philosophy as Poetry
by James C. KlaggeHow Wittgenstein sought a more effective way of reaching his audience by a poetic style of doing philosophy. Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, "Really one should write philosophy only as one writes poetry." In Wittgenstein's Artillery, James Klagge shows how, in search of ways to reach his audience, Wittgenstein tried a more poetic style of doing philosophy. Klagge argues that, deploying this new philosophical "artillery"--Klagge's term for Wittgenstein's methods of influencing his readers and students--Wittgenstein moved from an esoteric mode to an evangelical mode, aiming for an effect on his audience that was noncognitive, appealing to the temperament in addition to the intellect. Wittgenstein was an artillery spotter--directing artillery fire to targets--in the Austrian army during World War I, and Klagge argues that, years later, he became a philosophical spotter, struggling to find the right artillery to accomplish his philosophical purpose. Klagge shows how Wittgenstein's work with his students influenced his style of writing philosophy and motivated him to care about the effect of his ideas on his audience. To illustrate Wittgenstein's evolving approach, Klagge draws on not only Wittgenstein's best-known works but also such lesser-known material as notebooks, dictations, lectures, and recollections of students. Klagge then goes beyond Wittgenstein to present a range of literature--biblical parables and children's stories, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche--as other examples of the poetic approach. He concludes by offering his own attempts at a poetic approach to addressing philosophical issues.
Wittgenstein's Ladder: Poetic Language and the Strangeness of the Ordinary
by Marjorie PerloffMarjorie Perloff, among our foremost critics of twentieth-century poetry, argues that Ludwig Wittgenstein provided writers with a radical new aesthetic, a key to recognizing the inescapable strangeness of ordinary language. Taking seriously Wittgenstein's remark that "philosophy ought really to be written only as a form of poetry," Perloff begins by discussing Wittgenstein the "poet." What we learn is that the poetics of everyday life is anything but banal. "This book has the lucidity and the intelligence we have come to expect from Marjorie Perloff.—Linda Munk, American Literature "[Perloff] has brilliantly adapted Wittgenstein's conception of meaning and use to an analysis of contemporary language poetry."—Linda Voris, Boston Review "Wittgenstein's Ladder offers significant insights into the current state of poetry, literature, and literary study. Perloff emphasizes the vitality of reading and thinking about poetry, and the absolute necessity of pushing against the boundaries that define and limit our worlds."—David Clippinger, Chicago Review "Majorie Perloff has done more to illuminate our understanding of twentieth century poetic language than perhaps any other critic. . . . Entertaining, witty, and above all highly original."—Willard Bohn, Sub-Stance
Wobble (Wesleyan Poetry Series)
by Rae ArmantroutPulitzer Prize–winning poet Rae Armantrout is at once a most intimate and coolly calculating poet. If anyone could produce a hybrid of Charlie Chaplin’s playful “Little Tramp” and Charlize Theron’s fierce “Imperator Furiosa,” it would be Armantrout. Her language is unexpected yet exact, playing off the collective sense that the shifting ground of daily reality may be a warning of imminent systemic collapse. While there are glimmers here of what remains of “the natural world,” the poet confesses the human failings, personal and societal, that have led to its devastation. No one’s senses are more acutely attuned than Armantrout’s, which makes her an exceptional observer and reporter of our faults. She leaves us wondering if the American Dream may be a nightmare from which we can’t awaken. Sometimes funny, sometimes alarming, the poems in Wobble play peek-a-boo with doom.
Woes of the Womb-Begotten
by Kishore Kalpanakant Madan Mohan MathurSahitya Akademi award winning Rajasthani poetry collection
Woke Baby
by Mahogany L. BrowneFor all the littlest progressives, waking up to seize a new day of justice and activism.Woke babies are up early. Woke babies raise their fists in the air. Woke babies cry out for justice. Woke babies grow up to change the world. This lyrical and empowering book is both a celebration of what it means to be a baby and what it means to be woke. With bright playful art, Woke Baby is an anthem of hope in a world where the only limit to a skyscrapper is more blue.
woke up no light: poems
by Leila MottleyA poignant, rousing debut book of poetry, full of life, from the former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, Californiawoke up no light is a Black girl&’s saunter turned to a woman&’s defiant strut. These are the hymns of a new generation of poetry. Young, alive, yearning. A mouth swung open and ready to devour. A quest for home in a world that knows only wasteland and wanting.Moving in sections from &“girlhood&” to &“neighborhood&” to &“falsehood&” to, finally, &“womanhood,&” these poems reckon with themes of reparations, restitution, and desire. The collection is sharp and raw, wise and rhythmic, a combination that lights up each page. From unearthing histories to searching for ways to dream of a future in a world constantly on the brink of disaster, this young poet sets forth personal and political revelation with piercing detail.woke up no light confirms Leila Mottley&’s arrival and demonstrates the enduring power of her voice—brave and distinctive and thoroughly her own.
woke up no light: poems
by Leila MottleyA poignant and rousing debut book of poetry from the acclaimed, bestselling author of the novel Nightcrawling, also the former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, California.Leila Mottley follows her trailblazing first novel with a perfectly pitched first collection of poems that demonstrate her energy and range. woke up no light is full of heart and edge, subtlety and fluidity. Moving in sections from &“girlhood&” to &“neighborhood&” to &“falsehood&” to, finally, &“womanhood,&” these poems open up the experiences of a young Black woman with immediacy and wisdom. Mottley sets forth personal and political revelation with piercing detail. In &“Crow Call,&” she casts her vision wide enough to take in the ongoing generational struggle for justice across history. In &“For the Women I Twerk To,&” she zeroes in on a body in motion, with intimacy and abandon.With the force of Amanda Gorman, the pointedness of Morgan Parker, the gravitas of Tracy K. Smith, and the youthful energy of Jasmine Mans, woke up no light confirms Leila Mottley's arrival and demonstrates the enduring power of her voice—brave and distinctive and thoroughly her own.
Wolf Centos
by Simone MuenchWhat is important is to avoidthe time allotted for disavowelsas the livid woundleaves a trace leaves an abscesstakes its contraction for those cloudsthat dip thunder & vanishlike rose leaves in closed jars.Age approaches, slowly. But it cannotcrystal bone into thin air.The small hours open their wounds for me.This is a woman's confession:I keep this wolf because the wilderness gave it to me.Simone Muench is the author of Orange Crush, Lampblack & Ash, The Air Lost in Breathing, and Disappearing Address. She teaches at Lewis University in Chicago, Illinois.
The Wolf is at the Door: Tales of Courage
by The Editors at Scott ForesmanThis book is a interesting collection of poetry, essays, fiction and non-fiction work from various authors on courage and intends to encourage reading among young readers.
Wolf Moon
by Jean Pedrick"...the kind of union of passion and wit that we have been looking for ever since the metaphysicals turned to John Dryden... The best lines are white-hot and there is a priceless honesty."--John Updike"...a beautiful book in all ways--the conduct of it, and the salty, learned voice..."--Barry Spacks"Sometimes she lets the wild take over--and win."--Great Speckled Bird
Wolf Moon Blood Moon: Poems
by Ed FalcoIn Wolf Moon Blood Moon, Ed Falco considers love and the loss of love, what we have today and what we remember of yesterday, the promise of youth and the disappointments and pleasures of aging. By turns whimsical, meditative, and poignant, these poems examine the joys and sorrows of living.The first section offers a meditation on loss, as the author explores bereavements both personal and remote. From an elderly mother and her stroke-impaired son struggling to have a simple conversation, to a man coping with the breakup of his marriage, to strangers caught in the public tragedies of a flood or an act of mass violence, these are poems acknowledging that loss is inevitable, infused with grief, and borne with courage. The second section explores the turbulence, sensuality, and mysteries within a particular life. Speakers in these poems contemplate aging while on their way to see a Broadway play, recall a father’s violence and a mother’s selflessness, and explore the complexity of a world that seems impossible to comprehend. Together, the two sections suggest a poet looking back in contemplation.
Wolf's Coming!
by Joe KulkaA shadowy figure climbs the hill, getting close and closer still. Wolf's coming! A distant howl echoes through the forest, and news quickly spreads that Wolf is coming! As the wolf gets closer and closer, animals run away as fast as they can. Soon the wolf's glowing eyes are peeking through the window, and then slowly, the front door creaks open... But things are not as they seem in this suspenseful, clever story. It just might be the reader who's in for the biggest surprise of all!
The Woman Downstairs
by Julie BruckWinner of the 1994 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry (QSPELL, now the Quebec Writers' Federation) In The Woman Downstairs, eloquence joins intimately with an attentive and hungry eye. Julie Bruck explores the accidents and acquaintances of life, its small coincidences and occurrences, its unexpected meetings. With a passionate distance, Bruck blends the outside observer's cool embrace with a desire to know intensely life’s eccentric smallnesses, to gentle the beautiful out of the mundane. By turns witty and thoughtful, Bruck's writing is always graceful, always a delight.
Woman, Eat Me Whole
by Ama Asantewa DiakaA bold, mesmerizing debut collection exploring womanhood, the body, mental illness, and what it means to move between cultures Renowned for her storytelling and spoken-word artistry, Ama Asantewa Diaka is also an exultant, fierce, and visceral poet whose work leaves a lasting impact.Touching on themes from perceptions of beauty to the betrayals of the body, from what it means to give consent to how we grapple with demons internal and external, Woman, Eat Me Whole is an entirely fresh and powerful look at womanhood and personhood in a shifting world. Moving between Ghana and the United States, Diaka probes those countries’ ever-changing cultural expectations and norms while investigating the dislocation and fragmentation of a body—and a mind—so often restless or ill at ease.Vivid and bodily while also deeply cerebral, Woman, Eat Me Whole is a searing debut collection from a poet with an inimitable voice and vision.
The Woman I Kept to Myself
by Julia AlvarezThe works of this award-winning poet and novelist are rich with the language and influences of two cultures: those of the Dominican Republic of her childhood and the America of her youth and adulthood. They have shaped her writing just as they have shaped her life. In these seventy-five autobiographical poems, Alvarez’s clear voice sings out in every line. Here, in the middle of her life, she looks back as a way of understanding and celebrating the woman she has become.