Publisher's Synopsis
Life brings times of pain, loss, and sadness as well as its high points. No one can escape that truth. And it can be hard to share your pain with others when the words for such raw emotions seem impossible to express. When you're deep into the blues, and your world feels dark, find a quiet place, open the pages of this beautiful book, and let the healing power of poetry pour into your soul. For indeed, poetry can achieve this transformation. In his poem "And no Death" American poet David Ignatow said of his words "May this sink into your thoughts and make a person of me once again in your person." What you will discover in this sublime collection are 100 poems that both transmit and transmute the blues through the sheer alchemy of poetry. They have been chosen with care and thought from the abundant resources of American and international writing. Favorite poets of the past such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Wallace Stevens stand alongside the newer voices of Robert Bly, Louise Gluck, W.S. Merwin, Pablo Neruda, Galway Kinnell, Jane Kenyon, Donald Hall, Marilyn Hacker, Dorianne Laux, James Wright, and others.;Though they all speak with different voices, these poets find their own, miraculous words to reveal pain and, in revelation, heal it.
