A Gathering of WaysA Gathering of Ways is John Matthias' first collection of poems since the publication of his warmly received Northern Summer collection in 1985. The book consists of three long poems dealing with the geography, geology, prehistory, and history of two places closely identified with Matthias' work, the East Anglian region of Britain and the American Midwest, and a third place that provides the book with a new and deeply resonant setting: those parts of southern France and northern Spain through which run the famous pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. "An East Anglian Diptych" explores those parts of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk linked by three rivers and by those ancient paths and tracks known as ley lines which connect locality and locality and time with time. "Facts From an Apocryphal Midwest" explores another group of trails that began as prehistoric paths down which copper from Lake Superior was carried from the early days of the mound-builders. Despite the historical backdrop of these poems, both bring the reader into the present in unexpected ways, preparing him or her for the strange and visionary "A Compostela Diptych," winner of the Poetry Society of America's George Bogin Memorial Award. |
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abbey Abbot Suger Abd-al-Rahman Aimery Picaud al-Andalus Alde Alfonso Aragón Basques bell towers tumbled Besançon to Finisterre beside buried carved castle Charlemagne church Cize Cluny Codex Calixtinus Compostela cross David Jones decked and lighted dowser dream East Anglian Diptych equinox fell at noon flint France French Galicia Gogmagog Gonzalo Salvadorez hauberks buckled heretics houses cracked Huron Illinois Iroquois JOHN MATTHIAS king lakes lamps and rubies leapt from spears Lemosina leopards walked Ley Lines Miamis Mont Saint-Michel night with lamps old Sauk trail paths Père Podiensis poem poet portage Potawatomi prairie Priscillian prows decked Puente la Reina Ramiro of Navarre river road rocks Rodrigo Díaz Roncevaux Sagrajas Sahagún sailed Saint Saint-Michel to Sens Salle sang Santiago ship singing Somport song Spain spears of ash steel casques burst stone Stour Tariq ibn-Ziyad Tisha Tolosona towers tumbled bells Turonensis Via Podiensis Via Turonensis walls of houses Wandil