Bücher der Reihe Terrapin Poetry

The gorgeous poems of Michael T. Young's The Infinite Doctrine of Water offer the rewards of deep reflection. The poet's sharp eye and attentive ear capture the delicate light and shadow of urban life and personal memory. New York and Jersey City provide the backdrop for subtle yet incisive meditations, as when "Devotional" portrays the Belt Parkway's approach to the Verrazano Bridge through a vivid moment of grace where "ranks of waves / wear breakers like medals of impermanence." In Young's hands, time's transience is enacted through quick shifts and sudden epiphanies in poems that are radiant, deeply felt, and always beautifully crafted. -Ned Balbo

Open this book at random and find a trove of thrilling images and unexpected metaphors: tiny bells jingling like sins, ';a cool lake of indifference,' ';an impossible wheel of hunger.' Read this book beginning to end and discover a dark trajectory, the work required to integrate one's family of origin with a wider consciousness and responsibility. As have those in Geraldine Connolly's previous books, these poems fly. But equipped with the acute sensitivity of an aileron, they fly higher and more daringlyexposing for us our own ';beating heart, its thump and clamor.' This is the work of a gifted poet at the height of her powers. Natasha Saje

Like "sunlight stroking the birds' throats so it comes out as song," Ann Fisher-Wirth's graceful and sturdy lines unsettle the seemingly familiar. A writer of moral gravity, her distilled attentiveness presses against our all-too-common ambivalence and detachment from the ordinary world. Whether set in Mississippi, California, the Ozarks, or France, the poems in The Bones of Winter Birdsexhibit an abundance of compassion and civility. As Fisher-Wirth praises, laments, lets go, language salvages what might otherwise be missed. It's with attentiveness and emotional poise that these poems lay everything bare. Despite fear and everyday darkness, "I think we are provided for" she reminds us, a consolation for which I am grateful. This is a beautiful book. -Shara Lessley