River Inside the River Poems [Paperback]

From the acclaimed American poet whose work the San Francisco Review called mystical, carnal, reflective, wry come three gorgeous poetic sequences. In the first, Eden and After, Gregory Orr retells the story of Adam and Eve. The second sequence, The City of Poetry, evokes and explores a visionary metropolis where every poem is a house, and every house a poem. The final sequence, River Inside the River, focuses on redemption through the mysterious power of language to resurrect the beloved and recover what is lost.Starred review. As erudite, as full of allusion and citation, as the work of any other poet fullof the history of his craft, these poems are as straightforward in expression, asplain in vocabulary as any strict literary modernist could wish. . . . Exquisite.[Orr pulls at the root of all heart ache.For four decades, Gregory Orr has been among a small handful of poetswho make me proud to be among their generation of writers. Orrs new book is awonder, exploring such weighty themes as the sources of love, the sources ofmourning, the working of redemption and memory, the ways in which these giverise to poetic utterance . . . all in language as light as airbornethistledown. For such powerful lyric importance to come from such small deftbreaths requires both mastery and magic; both are plentiful here, on everypage.This is a book that is both reflective and ecstatic. It embraces anextended meditation but casts a spell through lyric impulse. It is incendiary,inventive, incantatory. It is erotic. It is, indeed, irresistible.Gregory Orrs poems have always had the stunning ability to place mindfulness almost instantly back inside the mind. Once again, a river inhabits its true banks, and a soul, its boundless person.Orrs writing feels transcendent. Language shines, shimmers, delights, and rises as high as it can.Orr ranks as a great seer, casting a mythic spell over the reader with his technically attuned verse.A striking meditation on artlsª