Selected from six award-winning books, this volume collects the best of Twichell's meditative and startling poems. A long-time student of Zen Buddhism, Twichell probes how the self-changes over time and how the perception of self affects the history and meaning of our lives. Her poems exhibit a deep and urgent love of the natural world amidst ecological decimation, while also delving into childhood memories and the surprise and nourishment that come from radical shifts in perception.
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[Above the blood prairies / the sky is all colour and water / The future moves / from one part to another: INLAND]***
(Copper Canyon Press, 1 June 2013, first published 2010, 200 pages, ebook, borrowed from @natpoetrylib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I've read the poet before in various anthologies but never a full collection. If the quality of the poems on offer here is anything to go by, I've clearly been missing out. The poems are outstanding. I loved every poem and every word of every poem. The poems are narrative and really spoke to me. The language and imagery used is moving, rich and detailed. A lot of modern poetry can be very full and static. Twichell's poems are alive in a way I haven't seen for a long time. The poems are simply astonishing. They will stay with me for a long time. Twichell has been added to my must read poet's list.
