I Praise My Destroyer: Poems (Vintage)
In her first book of poems since the splendidJaguar of Sweet Laughter(1991), naturalist Ackerman expresses her signature love for the world in all its seething glory, but there is new strength here, an edge freshly honed. Yet her sensuality is still in full force as she writes voluptuously about apricots, water, and sky and wears poetic forms like silk dresses that sway and cling in perfect accord to the stride of her lines. Her metaphors are piquant and her humor mischievous, but still there is an intimation of struggle, and that infuses these wholly original poems with an air of valor, vitality, and wisdom. She writes--with wit, warmth, and gratitude--about the "timed talk" of therapy, the fire and darkness of love, and, strikingly, of friendships between women. If one poem had to stand for her ardent awareness, poetic adeptness, erudition, profound insights into nature, and all-embracing spirit, it would be "When the Deep Purple Falls," a thousand-word sentence about a day-long bicycle ride around a lake, a brilliant meditation on the cycle of time, life and death, and the perpetual turnings of the heart.Donna Seaman--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.