Tricks of the Light

by Hearne, Vicki

• ISBN13: 9780226322414
• ISBN10: 0226322416
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

FromThe Horse That, Trotting The horse that, trotting with open heart Against the wind, achieves bend and flow Will live forever. So far, so good, But they never do, until too late, Bend properly and time spreads from The momentary hesitations Of their spines, circles their tossing necks, Falls from their teeth like rejected oats, Litters the ground like penitence. This is where we come in, where the drop Of time congeals the air and someone Speaks to the discouraged grass . . . Tricks of the Lightexplores the often fraught relationships between domestic animals and humans through mythological figurations, vibrant thought, and late-modern lyrics that seem to test their own boundaries. Vicki Hearne (19462001), best known and celebrated today as a writer of strikingly original poetry and prose, was a capable dog and horse trainer, and sometimes controversial animal advocate. This definitive collection of Hearne's poetry spans the entirety of her illustrious career, from her first book,Nervous Horses(1980), to never-before-published poems composed on her deathbed. But no matter the source, each of her meditative, metaphysical lyrics possesses that rare combination of philosophical speculation, practical knowledge of animals, and an unusually elegant style unlike that of any other poet writing today. Before her untimely death, Hearne entrusted the manuscript to distinguished poet, scholar, and long-time friend John Hollander, whose introduction provides both critical and personal insight into the poet's magnum opus.Tricks of the Lightacute, vibrant, and deeply informedis a sensuous reckoning of the connection between humans and the natural world. Praise forThe Parts of Light "Hearne . . . strives to capture exactly what she knows she can'tthe intense immediacy of animal consciousness, a consciousness free of the moral vagaries and intellectual preoccupations that pockmark human experience. Her style, smooth in some places, choppy in others, reflects both the wholeness of animal presence and the jarring, fragmentary nature of human reason and reflection. Hearne's poems demand participation, refuse passive enjoyment; she dares the reader to stay in the saddle."Publishers Weekly

Author Biography

Vicki Hearne (1946–2001) was a poet, writer, and dog and horse trainer. She is the author of several books, including Nervous Horses and Adam’s Task: Calling Animals by Name.
 
John Hollander is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University. He is the author of numerous works of poetry and criticism, most recently of The Work of Poetry.

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Creatures of the surface	p. 13
A world of differences	p. 15
Heartdust : new ride in Old Arroyo	p. 16
Some exactitudes of wonder from an old quest manual	p. 17
Clown on tight rope	p. 20
Getting it right	p. 22
January 6	p. 23
Plato's seventh letter	p. 24
The old dog	p. 25
The novice sculptor	p. 26
Opposite the heart	p. 26
Painting over candles	p. 28
Wind rubs into	p. 30
Every time the mountains	p. 31
Blinded by glory	p. 32
White out	p. 33
Without mountains	p. 34
Then philosophy	p. 34
Side view (alumna report)	p. 35
Road to beauty	p. 36
The old dog now	p. 37
Hounds	p. 38
Upon hearing that Helen Keller has a bull pup	p. 38
Going to ground	p. 39
What philosopher	p. 40
The wax figure ruined	p. 41
The tree that plucks fruit	p. 42
Dark stars	p. 43
A subtle gesture	p. 44
Decorum of time	p. 45
Delight in a seasonal shift	p. 46
Trained man and dog	p. 47
So there is justice	p. 49
Young dog, grass, and more	p. 52
News from the dogs	p. 53
Tricks of the light : part I	p. 57
Tricks of the light : part II	p. 65
Tricks of the light : part III	p. 72
Tricks of the light : part IV	p. 80
Tricks of the light : part V	p. 88
Prayer	p. 99
Glitter : a critical essay	p. 99
Riding a nervous horse	p. 100
Ibn, who wouldn't be caught	p. 101
Rebreaking outlaw horses in the desert	p. 102
Daedalus broods on the equestrian Olympic trials	p. 104
Riding a jumper	p. 106
The archer	p. 107
The horse that, trotting	p. 108
A problem of form	p. 108
A country scene	p. 109
Against the grain	p. 110
Emergence	p. 110
The fifth horseman	p. 111
Bathing	p. 112
Waking	p. 113
The pillar of gold	p. 115
The exact role of value judgments in war	p. 115
The singing lesson	p. 116
A photograph	p. 117
Science and human behavior	p. 117
Camouflage	p. 118
Next summer	p. 119
Agnus Dei	p. 120
The fastidiousness of the musician	p. 121
I was reading ouspensky	p. 122
That hot Texas sun	p. 123
A technical question for my daughter	p. 125
My father rode great, silver birds	p. 126
St. George and the dragon : piecing it all together	p. 128
The metaphysical horse	p. 132
Ana Halach Dodeach	p. 137
Passing over your virtues	p. 138
Coast and walrus	p. 138
Truth on the beach	p. 140
Postcards from Jerusalem	p. 141
The claim of speech	p. 146
On R. L. S. and happiness	p. 147
Our condition at twilight	p. 149
In the absence of horses	p. 151
Night track	p. 159
Toward a cultural history	p. 160
An historical note : staghounds	p. 161
The moral for us	p. 162
Gauguin's white horse	p. 163
Canvas with a bit of tyger showing	p. 164
Ierushalayim Shel Zahav	p. 166
Between fences	p. 171
Touch of class or view from within any Imperial Riding Academy	p. 172
The new hound puppy	p. 173
The figure 1	p. 174
The dog and the word	p. 175
Some general principles of the art of riding	p. 176
Riding skills	p. 179
A point of technique	p. 180
Girl on a lawn	p. 180
Grasshoppers	p. 181
On the grounds of the statewide Air Pollution Research Center	p. 182
Balance at the halt	p. 183
What transpires	p. 184
The young airedale	p. 185
The runner and the mountain	p. 186
The parts of light	p. 187
A mosaic	p. 188
A breed standard for the border collie	p. 189
All of my beautiful dogs are dying	p. 190
Ion, released from the vows of love, replies to socrates	p. 191
Huck Finn, credulous at the circus	p. 192
Reasons not to own a wolf-dog	p. 192
Before the war	p. 194
Listening post	p. 196
St. Luke painting the virgin	p. 197
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