Hardback | |
August 8, 2023 | |
9780819500670 | |
English | |
72 | |
7.75 Inches (US) | |
5.13 Inches (US) | |
$27.00 USD, £19.95 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Paperback / softback | |
August 8, 2023 | |
9780819500687 | |
English | |
72 | |
7.75 Inches (US) | |
5.13 Inches (US) | |
$16.95 USD, £12.50 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Fierce Elegy
By Peter Gizzi
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
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
About the Author
PETER GIZZI lives and works in Western Massachusetts.
Endorsements
"These poems are assertions of a spiritual excess that won't die."—Fanny Howe, author of Love and I
"Having read Peter Gizzi's work through the immense and singular wingspan his books make, I am still awestruck and dumbfounded as to how these poems are made. This book believes in language. It also offers it the utmost reverence: by lowering it to human height, where the living are. What a masterwork of deft maneuvering within the dynamo Gizzi has made of the lyric."—Ocean Vuong, author of Time is a Mother
"The title says this collection is one poem, and it is, with its repeated vocabulary, shades-of-winter mood, and virtuoso singing. Amazing single poems. The elegy keeps naming itself, enjoying its form. So you can love it."—Alice Notley, author of The Descent of Alette
"Having read Peter Gizzi's work through the immense and singular wingspan his books make, I am still awestruck and dumbfounded as to how these poems are made. This book believes in language. It also offers it the utmost reverence: by lowering it to human height, where the living are. What a masterwork of deft maneuvering within the dynamo Gizzi has made of the lyric."—Ocean Vuong, author of Time is a Mother
"The title says this collection is one poem, and it is, with its repeated vocabulary, shades-of-winter mood, and virtuoso singing. Amazing single poems. The elegy keeps naming itself, enjoying its form. So you can love it."—Alice Notley, author of The Descent of Alette
Hardback | |
August 8, 2023 | |
9780819500670 | |
English | |
72 | |
7.75 Inches (US) | |
5.13 Inches (US) | |
$27.00 USD, £19.95 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Paperback / softback | |
August 8, 2023 | |
9780819500687 | |
English | |
72 | |
7.75 Inches (US) | |
5.13 Inches (US) | |
$16.95 USD, £12.50 GBP | |
v2.1 Reference | |
Other Titles by Peter Gizzi
Now It's Dark
Peter Gizzi
Dec 2020
- Wesleyan University Press
$35.00 USD
- Hardback
$15.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
$12.99 USD
- Electronic book text
Archeophonics
Peter Gizzi
Oct 2017
- Wesleyan University Press
$24.95 USD
- Hardback
$12.99 USD
- Electronic book text
$15.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest
Barbara Guest, edited by Hadley Guest
May 2016
- Wesleyan University Press
$27.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
$22.99 USD
- Electronic book text
Other Titles from Wesleyan Poetry Series
The Ruins of Nostalgia
Donna Stonecipher
Oct 2023
- Wesleyan University Press
$28.00 USD
- Hardback
$16.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
Sukun
Kazim Ali
Sep 2023
- Wesleyan University Press
$40.00 USD
- Hardback
$28.00 USD
- Paperback / softback
Icelight
Ranjit Hoskote
Apr 2023
- Wesleyan University Press
$26.00 USD
- Hardback
$15.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
Other Titles in POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss
Feeding the Ghosts
Rahul Mehta
Mar 2024
- University Press of Kentucky
$29.95 USD
- Hardback
$19.95 USD
- Electronic book text
$19.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
Imago
poems by Brian Swann
Mar 2023
- Johns Hopkins University Press
$21.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
$21.95 USD
- Electronic book text
Separation Anxiety
Gavin Bradley
May 2022
- University of Alberta Press
$19.99 USD
- Paperback / softback
Other Titles in Poetry by individual poets
Black Creole Chronicles
Mona Lisa Saloy
Apr 2023
- University of New Orleans Press
$18.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
Buffalo Dance, expanded edition
Frank X Walker
Nov 2022
- University Press of Kentucky
$19.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
$29.95 USD
- Electronic book text
$19.95 USD
- Electronic book text
{#289-128}
Randall Horton
Sep 2020
- University Press of Kentucky
$19.95 USD
- Paperback / softback
$19.95 USD
- Electronic book text
$19.95 USD
- Electronic book text