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Synopsis
The first major gathering of May Swenson's poems in a decade, this posthumous collection concentrates on her nature poems. Drawn from nearly fifty years of her work, Naturecontains 182 poems, many never before published. With Elizabeth Bishop and Marianne Moore, May Swenson ranks among the foremost poets of this century. All who love nature and poety will relish this work.
Publishers Weekly
Swenson (1913-1989) hasn't received the recognition her writing merits. In this new compendium of her work, she observes nature, and her generous technical resources transform it, inviting us to see it again, as well as to appreciate the unpredictable act of perception. The poet glimpses and ponders planets, oceans, storms, ``trees embracing,'' ``October textures,'' and their kin; the ``vegetable oath'' of a plant and ``the lit hut'' of a star. To borrow from one of her titles, Swenson wants to ``look closer,'' whether at the ``stuffed pink stocking'' of a flamingo or the exposed interstices between observed and observer. But what comes of the closer look is far more than description. Though fashioned to evoke things seen, the poems are so cannily constructed that their world becomes independent, a new thing for us to watch with wonder. The poetry thinks, feels, examines; it's patiently, meticulously sensuous, and adventurously varied in form, much as nature is. Frost, Dickinson, Bishop and Hopkins appear to have been Swenson's companions or progenitors. Now she's ours. The collection includes nine previously unpublished poems, 20 previously uncollected poems, and work drawn from earlier volumes. (June)