Blackbird and Wolf : Poems

by Cole, Henri

• ISBN13: 9780374113797
• ISBN10: 0374113793
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-20
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

I don't want words to sever me from reality. I don't want to need them. I want nothing to reveal feeling but feelingas in freedom, or the knowledge of peace in a realm beyond, or the sound of water poured in a bowl. from "Gravity and Center" In his sixth collection of poetry, Henri Cole deepens his excavations of autobiography and memory. "I don't want words to sever me from reality," he asserts, and these poemsoften hovering within the realm of the sonnetcombine a delight in the senses with the rueful, the elegiac, the harrowing. Many confront the human need for love, the highest function of our species. But whether writing about solitude or the desire for unsanctioned love, animals or flowers, the dissolution of his mother's body or war, Cole maintains a style that is neither confessional nor abstract. And inBlackbird and Wolf, he is always opposing disappointment and difficult truths with innocence and wonder. Henri Colewas born in Fukuoka, Japan, and was raised in Virginia. The recipient of many awards, he is the author ofMiddle Earth, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, andThe Visible Man. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts. A Quill Book Award Finalist In his sixth collection of poetry, Henri Cole deepens his excavations and examination of autobiography and memory. "I don't want words to sever me from reality," he asserts, and these poemsoften hovering within the realm of the sonnetcombine a delight in the senses with the rueful, the elegiac, and the harrowing. Central here is the human need for love, the highest function of our species. Whether writing about solitude or unsanctioned desire, animals or flowers, the dissolution of his mother's body or war, Cole maintains a style that is neither confessional nor abstract, and he is always opposing disappointment and difficult truths with innocence and wonder. "Henri Cole's spare new book is a meditation serving as memoirscenes come and go; parents fade away; the poet takes sidelong glances at his aging, graying face in the mirror.Blackbird and Wolfshows the confidence of a poet no longer struggling toward expression . . . The psychological nuance of these images shows the botanical eye of Plath."William Logan,The New Criterion "Sunny landscapes long dominated pastorals, marred by the occasional thunderstorm that served to clear the air and engender a rainbowthink of Beethoven'sPastoral Symphony. By the late 19th century, 'nature red in tooth and claw' had infringed upon those green fields and shady groves. Henri Cole tranquil vistas are dappled with a chiaroscuro of pain. His sixth collection,Blackbird and Wolf, strives to reconcile our tempestuous interior feelings and urges with the spontaneity of beasts and flowers . . . Eschewing the traditions of Virgil or of Wordsworth, Cole's idiom is more reliant on Ovidian metamorphoses that pair horror with renewal. He combines scientific processes (those digesting enzymes or the evolution of species) with mythic concepts. In 'Eating the Peach,' the pit 'resembles / a small mammal's skull,' taking him along a recapitulation of biological development that also echoes the fall of man . . . In his dogged attempts to embrace nature's apparent grotesqueries, Cole approaches the sublime that Wordsworth defined as a mixture of awe and terror. 'Even when the world seems just a heap of broken things,' he strives to make sense of the natural and emotional intricacies that cause pleasure and pain.Blackbird and Wolfis Cole's most moving book to date."&am

Author Biography

Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, and was raised in Virginia. The recipient of many awards, he is the author, most recently, of Middle Earth (FSG, 2003), a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and The Visible Man (FSG, 1998).

Table of Contents

Birthday
Sycamores	p. 3
Mimosa Sensitiva	p. 4
Gulls	p. 6
Oil & Steel	p. 7
Ambulance	p. 8
Chenin Blanc	p. 9
Maple Leaves Forever	p. 10
Twilight	p. 11
Migraine	p. 14
To Sleep	p. 15
The Erasers	p. 16
The Tree Cutters	p. 19
Birthday	p. 20
Self-portrait with Hornets	p. 21
Gravity and Center
Gravity and Center	p. 25
American Kestrel	p. 26
Loons	p. 27
Quarry	p. 28
Homosexuality	p. 29
Haircut	p. 30
Toxicology	p. 31
Poppies	p. 32
Bowl of Lilacs	p. 33
Shaving	p. 34
My Weed	p. 35
Self-portrait with Red Eyes	p. 36
Embers	p. 37
Wet Apples	p. 38
Dune
Beach Walk	p. 41
Eating the Peach	p. 42
Dead Wren	p. 43
To the Forty-third President	p. 44
Hymn	p. 47
The Lost Bee	p. 48
Persimmon Tree	p. 49
Bee	p. 52
Mirror	p. 53
Dune	p. 54
Acknowledgments	p. 61
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