Augury
Poems
Will be published approx. on 21. December 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
98 pages
978-1-57131-479-6 (ISBN)
Description
From celebrated poet Eric Pankey, a collection exploring the presence of the divine in the seemingly ordinary.
The ancient Romans practiced augury, reading omens in bird's flight patterns. In the poems of Augury, revelation is found in nature's smallest details: a lizard's quick movements, a tree scarred by lighting, the white curve of a snail's shell. Here the sensory world and the imagined one collide in unexpected and wonderful ways, as Pankey scrutinizes the physical for meaning, and that meaning for truth.
With uncommon grace, each of Pankey's precise lyrics advances our shared ontological questions and expresses our deepest contradictions. In a world of mystery, should we focus on finding meaning or creating it? How can the known-and the unknown-be captured in language? "If one cannot see clearly," Pankey writes, borrowing from Freud, "one at least wants / what is unclear to be in focus."
Augury is a masterful and magical collection from a poet of stirring intelligence, "a book of stones unstitched from the wolf's belly."
The ancient Romans practiced augury, reading omens in bird's flight patterns. In the poems of Augury, revelation is found in nature's smallest details: a lizard's quick movements, a tree scarred by lighting, the white curve of a snail's shell. Here the sensory world and the imagined one collide in unexpected and wonderful ways, as Pankey scrutinizes the physical for meaning, and that meaning for truth.
With uncommon grace, each of Pankey's precise lyrics advances our shared ontological questions and expresses our deepest contradictions. In a world of mystery, should we focus on finding meaning or creating it? How can the known-and the unknown-be captured in language? "If one cannot see clearly," Pankey writes, borrowing from Freud, "one at least wants / what is unclear to be in focus."
Augury is a masterful and magical collection from a poet of stirring intelligence, "a book of stones unstitched from the wolf's belly."
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Minneapolis
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 211 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
136 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-57131-479-6 (9781571314796)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Eric Pankey is the author of twelve collections of poetry, most recently Crow-Work. He is the recipient of a Walt Whitman Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Library of Virginia Literary Award. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, Field, Gettysburg Review, and Poetry Daily, as well as numerous anthologies, including Best American Poetry 2011 (edited by Kevin Young). He is currently a professor of English and Heritage Chair in Writing at George Mason University. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.
Content
Contents
AUGURY
SPECULATION ON SUFFERING
ORACLE BONES
SPECULATION ON A STAR-NURSERY
EPIPHENOMENON
SPECULATION ON THE HISTORY OF DRAWING
ELEGY FOR CY TWOMBLY
THE FIG
LOST
DROPPED STITCHES
GHOST SHIP or UNION OF THE TORUS AND THE SPHERE
AT SENANQUE ABBEY
SPECULATION ON THE DARK AGES
SYNOPSIS OF A BATTLE
SPECULATION ON MELANCHOLIA
PROOFS AND REFUTATIONS
THE FRAGILE INSTANT THE NIGHT LIGHTS UP
READING MONTALE IN PROVENCE
SPECULATION ON THE LITTLE ICE AGE
DOUBLE EXPOSURE
LOOSE LEAVES OF UNPURSUED SPECULATIONS
SPECULATION ON THE PRESENT TENSE
THIS IS THE HOUR
TWO STUDIES FOR A PARABLE
SPECULATION ON IMMANENCE
REMOTE SENSING
SPECULATION ON THE WEIGHT OF YESTERDAY
NOON OUTSIDE THE CITY WALL
ARS POETICA
SPECULATION ON THE ABSENT GOD
THE LITTLE VILLAGE
CREATION MYTH
INTELLIGENCE
AT THE END OF THE LAST GLACIAL PERIOD
HIGH PASTURE
BURNT OFFERING
VESPERS
SPECULATION ON THE VOLCANO
PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPH
ANOTHER TIME
SPECULATION ON INVISIBILITY
SPECULATION ON CAUSE AND EFFECT
THE CHANGELING
KANSAS CITY 1969
STASIS IN MOTION or THE SHOWER SCENE IN DOUGLAS GORDAN's 24 HOUR PSYCHO LASTS A HALF-HOUR
ANEMOGRAPH
ST. LOUIS ELEGY
THE FRICTION BETWEEN A STRING AND BOW CALLS FORTH A PLAINTIVE HYMN
STUDY FOR "THE BATTLE OF THE REBEL ANGELS"
SPECULATION ON THE AFTERLIFE
ANOTHER SPECULATION ON THE AFTERLIFE
SOUVENIR DE VOYAGE
Acknowledgments
Notes
AUGURY
SPECULATION ON SUFFERING
ORACLE BONES
SPECULATION ON A STAR-NURSERY
EPIPHENOMENON
SPECULATION ON THE HISTORY OF DRAWING
ELEGY FOR CY TWOMBLY
THE FIG
LOST
DROPPED STITCHES
GHOST SHIP or UNION OF THE TORUS AND THE SPHERE
AT SENANQUE ABBEY
SPECULATION ON THE DARK AGES
SYNOPSIS OF A BATTLE
SPECULATION ON MELANCHOLIA
PROOFS AND REFUTATIONS
THE FRAGILE INSTANT THE NIGHT LIGHTS UP
READING MONTALE IN PROVENCE
SPECULATION ON THE LITTLE ICE AGE
DOUBLE EXPOSURE
LOOSE LEAVES OF UNPURSUED SPECULATIONS
SPECULATION ON THE PRESENT TENSE
THIS IS THE HOUR
TWO STUDIES FOR A PARABLE
SPECULATION ON IMMANENCE
REMOTE SENSING
SPECULATION ON THE WEIGHT OF YESTERDAY
NOON OUTSIDE THE CITY WALL
ARS POETICA
SPECULATION ON THE ABSENT GOD
THE LITTLE VILLAGE
CREATION MYTH
INTELLIGENCE
AT THE END OF THE LAST GLACIAL PERIOD
HIGH PASTURE
BURNT OFFERING
VESPERS
SPECULATION ON THE VOLCANO
PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPH
ANOTHER TIME
SPECULATION ON INVISIBILITY
SPECULATION ON CAUSE AND EFFECT
THE CHANGELING
KANSAS CITY 1969
STASIS IN MOTION or THE SHOWER SCENE IN DOUGLAS GORDAN's 24 HOUR PSYCHO LASTS A HALF-HOUR
ANEMOGRAPH
ST. LOUIS ELEGY
THE FRICTION BETWEEN A STRING AND BOW CALLS FORTH A PLAINTIVE HYMN
STUDY FOR "THE BATTLE OF THE REBEL ANGELS"
SPECULATION ON THE AFTERLIFE
ANOTHER SPECULATION ON THE AFTERLIFE
SOUVENIR DE VOYAGE
Acknowledgments
Notes