With the delicate discretion of her imagination, Lia Purpura reminds us of our knship to all things, and of the vital place of human compassion in the shifting kaleidoscope of worldly change. David St. John Stone Sky Lifting is a study in states of extremity, portraying violence at one end of the spectrum and unbidden solace at the other. Focusing on transforming events, Purpura depicts the spiritual dislocation that can result from abiding scrutiny. With a metaphysical sensibility, Purpura moves between our world s abundance and its mysterious stillness in her subject matter. Over the course of the book, a shaken vision emerges one of trespass, both worldly and spiritual, and of repaircicada.
Silences become revelations in Purpura s poems.
Lia Purpura is the author of The Brighter the Veil , a collection of poems, and Increase , which won the 2000 AWP Award in Creative Nonfiction. She is also the translator of Poems of Grzegorz Musial. She teaches at Loyola College in Baltimore. December Poetry 80 pp.