God's Silence: PoemsIn this luminous new collection of poems, Franz Wright expands on the spiritual joy he found in his Pulitzer Prize-winningWalking to Martha’s Vineyard. Wright, whom we know as a poet of exquisite miniatures, opensGod’s Silencewith “East Boston, 1996,” a powerful long poem that looks back at the darker moments in the formation of his sensibility. He shares his private rules for bus riding (“No eye contact: the eyes of the terrified / terrify”), and recalls, among other experiences, his first encounter with a shotgun, as an eight-year-old boy (“In a clearing in the cornstalks . . . it was suggested / that I fire / on that muttering family of crows”). Throughout this volume, Wright continues his penetrating study of his own and our collective soul. He reaches a new level of acceptance as he intones the paradox “I have heard God’s silence like the sun,” and marvels at our presumptions: We speak of Heaven who have not yet accomplished even this, the holiness of things precisely as they are, and never will! Though Wright often seeks forgiveness in these poems, his black wit and self-deprecation are reliably present, and he delights in reminding us that “literature will lose, sunlight will win, don’t worry.” But in this book, literature wins as well.God’s Silenceis a deeply felt celebration of what poetry (and its silences) can do for us. |
Contents
BEGINNING AGAIN | 13 |
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE | 20 |
POEM IN TWO PARTS | 27 |
Copyright | |
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Alder Street appeared ARKANSAS FIRST LIGHT ARKANSAS FIRST SNOW ARKANSAS GOOD FRIDAY Auschwitz blessed BLUE AND DIAMONDS bright burning DARK ILLEGIBLE DAWN WALKS dead death DONALD JUSTICE dream E. D. IN COMA earth EAST BOSTON EVENT HORIZON EVERYONE'S ELEGY eyes face FATHER ROGER GOES finally fire Five Octobers forever forgiveness FRANK STANFORD FRANZ WRIGHT friends gift hand heard God's silence Heaven holy ILLEGIBLE NEXT DAY infinite LANGUAGE MY COUNTRY LARRY LEVIS leaves listen LIVING TWICE look Martha's Vineyard mind minute mirror morning NEBRASKA BLIZZARD never night OHIO SUNFLOWERFIELD once Oxyrhynchus Poems POET'S ROOM PRESCIENCE Pulitzer Prize Rainer Maria Rilke remember René Char SCRIBBLED TESTAMENT Set You Free shadow shining someone soundless stars strange SUCCESSFUL DAY FILL Sunflower TEXT & COMMENTARY thing trees Truth Will Set unendurable unseeable voice wake WALKS IN BLUE WINTER LIGHT WORD FOR JOY