Synopses & Reviews
"A collection of poems that give rich drama to ordinary experience, deepening our sense of what it means to be human."
Pulitzer Prize finalist citationFinalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, this retrospective of Ruth Stone's poetry combines the best work from twelve previous volumes with an abundance of new poems. This comprehensive selection includes early formal lyrics, fierce political poems, and meditations on her husband's suicide and her own blindness. As Sharon Olds says in her foreword, A Ruth Stone poem feels alive in the hands — ardent, independent, restless. What Love Comes To is a necessary collection from an American original.
Can it be that
memory is useless,
like a torn web
hanging in the wind?
Sometimes it billows
out, a full high gauze —
like a canopy.
But the air passes
through the rents
and it falls again and flaps
shapeless
like the ghost rag that it is —
hanging at the window
of an empty room.
Review
Stone shows that simplicity can be a deceiving doorway into some of the most challenging poems written by an American poet....Few poets have this gift for...allowing human experience to be felt through the mysteries of language." Bloomsbury Review
Review
""[Stone] has survived poverty, a lack of formal education, profound personal tragedy, and decades of obscurity to emerge as a pre-eminent American poet who is still writing vital poems at the age of ninety-three." Harvard Review
Review
"There is a broad, powerful streak of independence — even disobedience — that runs through Stone's writing and has inspired a great number of women after her." Guardian
Review
"Lyrical, angry, poignant, funny and wistful, the poems are the expression of a complex and vital sensibility. Stone's observations are acute...and the poems in which these are conveyed are deeply affirmative." Bloodaxe Books
Synopsis
A collection of poems that give rich drama to ordinary experience, deepening our sense of what it means to be human.--Pulitzer Prize finalist citation
There is a broad, powerful streak of independence--even disobedience--that runs through Stone's writing and has inspired a great number of women after her.--Guardian
Finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, this retrospective of Ruth Stone's poetry combines the best work from twelve previous volumes with an abundance of new poems. This comprehensive selection includes early formal lyrics, fierce political poems, and meditations on her husband's suicide and her own blindness. As Sharon Olds says in her foreword, A Ruth Stone poem feels alive in the hands--ardent, independent, restless. What Love Comes To is a necessary collection from an American original.
Can it be that
memory is useless,
like a torn web
hanging in the wind?
Sometimes it billows
out, a full high gauze--
like a canopy.
But the air passes
through the rents
and it falls again and flaps
shapeless
like the ghost rag that it is--
hanging at the window
of an empty room.
Ruth Stone is the author of twelve books of poetry. Among her many awards are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Eric Mathieu King Award, a Whiting Award, and she was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She taught creative writing at many universities, finally settling at SUNY Binghamton. She lives in Vermont.
Synopsis
A finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. "Ruth Stone is . . . a pre-eminent American poet." --Harvard Review
Synopsis
National Book Award-winning poet Ruth Stone once said, "I decided very early on not to write like other people." What Love Comes To certainly proves her success: here is her best work from twelve previous volumes, joined by an abundance of new poems. This comprehensive selection includes early formal lyrics, fierce political poems, and meditations on her husband's suicide, on blindness, and on aging.
Synopsis
A finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. Ruth Stone is . . . a pre-eminent American poet.” Harvard Review
About the Author
Ruth Stone is the author of twelve books of poetry. Among her many awards are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Eric Mathieu King Award, a Whiting Award, and she was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize. She taught creative writing at many universities, finally settling at SUNY Binghamton. She lives in Vermont.