Title: Walking to Martha's Vineyard : poems /
Authors: Wright, Franz, 1953-2015; Woodberry Poetry Room (Harvard College Library).
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf,
Year: 2003
Subjects: Poetry; American poetry
Abstract: In this radiant new collection, Franz Wright shares his regard for life in all its forms and his belief in the promise of blessing and renewal. As he watches the "Resurrection of the little apple tree outside my window," he shakes off his fear of mortality, concluding "what death ... There is only mine or yours, - but the world will be filled with the living." In prayer like poems he invokes the one "who spoke the world / into being" and celebrates a dazzling universe-snowflakes descending at nightfall, the intense yellow petals of the September sunflower, the planet adrift in a blizzard of stars, the simple mystery of loving other people. As Wright overcomes a natural tendency toward loneliness and isolation, he gives voice to his hope for "the only animal that commits suicide," and, to our deep pleasure, he arrives at a place of gratitude that is grounded in the earth and its moods. A new collection by the author of The Beforelife reflects his regard for life in every form and his belief in the promise of blessing and renewal, sharing through a series of prayer-like works his observations of such topics as a suicidal animal, snowflakes, and the mysteries of love.
Contents: Year one -- On Earth -- One heart -- Octaves -- June storm -- The word -- The first supper -- Promise -- Fathers -- To John Wieners : elegy & response -- Flight -- Medjugorje -- My place -- Study in acid & green -- Antipsychotic -- Old story -- Cloudless snowfall -- Shaving in the dark -- Registration of names -- 5:00 mass -- Dudley Wright -- University of one -- Slip -- Domesticity -- Little farm on the ocean -- Untitled ("She undressed ... ") -- The bird bride -- The maker -- Letter -- Abandoned letter -- Saying -- Baptism -- April orchard -- Circle drawn in water -- Weekend in the underworld -- Charlottesville winter -- Reunion -- Auto-lullaby -- Childhood's appointment -- September sunflower -- P.S. -- The word "I" -- How you will know me -- The new Jerusalem -- Quest -- Epitaph -- The poem -- Diary otherwise empty -- Icon from childhood -- The new child -- Walden -- Walking to Martha's Vineyard -- The only animal.