Blackbird and Wolf Poems [Paperback]

I don't want words to sever me from reality.
I don't want to need them. I want nothing
to reveal feeling but feelingas in freedom,
or the knowledge of peace in a realm beyond,
or the sound of water poured in a bowl.

from Gravity and Center

In his sixth collection of verse, Henri Cole deepens his excavations and examinations of autobiography and memory. These poemsoften hovering within the realm of the sonnetcombine a delight in the senses with the rueful, the elegiac, the harrowing. Central here is the human need for love, the highest function of our species. Whether writing about solitude or unsanctioned desire, animals or flowers, the dissolution of his mother's body or war, Cole maintains a style that is neither confessional nor abstract, and he is always opposing disappointment and difficult truths with innocence and wonder.

Henri Colewas born in Fukuoka, Japan, and was raised in Virginia. The recipient of many awards, he is the author, most recently, ofMiddle Earth(FSG, 2003), a Pulitzer Prize finalist, andThe Visible Man(FSG, 1998).