Fierce Elegy |
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Author:
| Gizzi, Peter |
Series title: | Wesleyan Poetry Ser. |
ISBN: | 978-0-8195-0069-4 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2023 |
Publisher: | Wesleyan University Press
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Book Format: | Digital download |
List Price: | USD $13.99 |
Book Description:
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Peter Gizzi's powerful new collection reminds us that the elegy is lament but also--as it has been for centuries--a work of love Peter Gizzi has said that "the elegy is a mode that can transform a broken heart in a fierce world into a fierce heart in a broken world." For Gizzi, ferocity can be reimagined as vulnerability, bravery and discovery, a braiding of emotional and otherworldly depth, "a holding open." In Gizzi's voice joy and sorrow make a complex...
More Description
Peter Gizzi's powerful new collection reminds us that the elegy is lament but also--as it has been for centuries--a work of love
Peter Gizzi has said that "the elegy is a mode that can transform a broken heart in a fierce world into a fierce heart in a broken world." For Gizzi, ferocity can be reimagined as vulnerability, bravery and discovery, a braiding of emotional and otherworldly depth, "a holding open." In Gizzi's voice joy and sorrow make a complex ecosystem. In their quest for a lyric reality, these poems remind us that elegy is lament but also--as it has been for centuries--a work of love. "This new poetry," Kamau Brathwaite has written about Gizzi, "taking such care of temperature--the time & details of the world--meaning the space(s) in which we live--defining love in this way. Writing along the edge. A way of writing about hope."
[sample poem]
Creely Song
all that is lovely
in words, even
if gone to pieces
all that is lovely
gone, all of it
for love and
autobiography
as if I were
writing this
hello, listen
the plan is
the body and
all of it for love
now in pieces
all that is lovely
echoes still
in life & death
still memory
gardens open
onto windows
lovely, the charm
that mirrors
all that was, all
that is, lovely
in a song