Synopses & Reviews
A searing new collection from one of our countrys most important poetsMemories merciesmostly aren't
but there wereI swear days
veined with grace
—from “Memory's Mercies”
Once in the West, Christian Wimans fourth collection, is as intense and intimate as poetry gets—from the “suffering of primal silence” that it plumbs to the “rockshriek of joy” that it achieves and enables. Readers of Wimans earlier books will recognize the sharp characterizations and humor—“From her I learned the earthworms exemplary open-mindedness, / its engine of discriminate shit”—as well as his particular brand of reverent rage: “Lord if I implore you please just please leave me alone / is that a prayer thats every instant answered?” But there is something new here, too: moving love poems to his wife, tender glimpses of his children, and, amid the onslaughts of illness and fear and failures, “a trace / of peace.”
Review
Praise for Christian Wiman
“[Wimans] poetry and his scholarship have a purifying urgency that is rare in this world. This puts him at the very source of theology, and enables him to say new things in timeless language, so that the readers surprise and assent are one and the same.” —Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead
“Like the classic mystics, [Wiman] often resorts to a language of paradox to convey things that ordinary language cant … Wiman speaks carefully but powerfully . . . The best that can come from contemplation of mortality, perhaps, is a kind of wisdom that can give others strength—not by answering questions, like those best-sellers which claim to tell you what happens after you see the white light, but by asking questions honestly . . . My Bright Abyss is a book that will give light and strength, even to those who find themselves unable to follow its difficult path.” —Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker
Review
Praise for Once in the West
"Once in the West is Mr. Wimans fourth book of poems, and his best. While reading it, I was reminded of something John Updike said about the theologian Karl Barth. ‘Really, Barths mind, so invariably earnest, always penetrates to some depth tonic for me, Updike wrote. ‘He makes me feel that rare thing, with authors, called love—one loves a man for thinking and writing so well. Mr. Wiman is only rarely earnest in his new book, but at times his writing made me feel something similar." —Dwight Garner, The New York Times
"In his fourth poetry collection, Once in the West, Wiman explores the ‘hard horizonless country of his West Texas roots, his religion, his family and the joy of being alive. Here, [Wiman] proves himself to be a writer who can show us the world poetically from a metaphysical, mystical, religious viewpoint. His poetry can sustain, lift up, support--it is sustenance for the soul . . . His is an intense, intimate poetry, employing surprising meter, rhyme and word juxtaposition to share ideas, opinions and memories. . . Wiman's poetry shows us how to experience and confront the fear of death, and the sustenance of a faith in something greater." —Tom Lavoie, Shelf Awareness
"The first half or so of this harsh and sometimes masterful fourth outing from poet, memoirist, and editor Wiman (Every Riven Thing) might represent the best verse he has yet penned . . . A former editor of Poetry magazine, Wimans wide reading there perhaps helped him develop his serious, careful, and widely admired technique . . . These poems of anger and devotion . . . [are] part of a serious poets lifelong thought about life and death, about body and soul, about memory and family, about this world and what is beyond." —Publishers Weekly
Praise for Christian Wiman
“[Wimans] poetry and his scholarship have a purifying urgency that is rare in this world. This puts him at the very source of theology, and enables him to say new things in timeless language, so that the readers surprise and assent are one and the same.” —Marilynne Robinson, author of Gilead
“Like the classic mystics, [Wiman] often resorts to a language of paradox to convey things that ordinary language cant … Wiman speaks carefully but powerfully . . . The best that can come from contemplation of mortality, perhaps, is a kind of wisdom that can give others strength—not by answering questions, like those best-sellers which claim to tell you what happens after you see the white light, but by asking questions honestly . . . My Bright Abyss is a book that will give light and strength, even to those who find themselves unable to follow its difficult path.” —Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker
Synopsis
One of The New York Times' 10 Favorite Poetry Books of 2014
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Winner of the 2015 Philosophical Society of Texas Award of Merit in Poetry
A searing new collection from one of our country's most important poets
Memories mercies
mostly aren't
but there were
I swear
days
veined with grace
from "Memory's Mercies"
Once in the West, Christian Wiman's fourth collection, is as intense and intimate as poetry gets from the "suffering of primal silence" that it plumbs to the "rockshriek of joy" that it achieves and enables. Readers of Wiman's earlier books will recognize the sharp characterizations and humor "From her I learned the earthworm's exemplary open-mindedness, / its engine of discriminate shit" as well as his particular brand of reverent rage: "Lord if I implore you please just please leave me alone / is that a prayer that's every instant answered?" But there is something new here, too: moving love poems to his wife, tender glimpses of his children, and, amid the onslaughts of illness and fear and failures, "a trace / of peace."
"
About the Author
Christian Wiman is the author of seven books, including a memoir, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer (FSG, 2013); Every Riven Thing (FSG, 2010), winner of the Ambassador Book Award in poetry; and Stolen Air: Selected Poems of Osip Mandelstam. From 2003 to 2013, he was the editor of Poetry magazine. He currently teaches religion and literature at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School. He lives in Connecticut.