
Long Rules
An Essay in Verse
Nathaniel Perry(Author)
University of Nebraska Press
Published on 1. November 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
76 pages
978-1-4962-2798-0 (ISBN)
Description
A book-length poem in six sections, Long Rules takes readers to five Trappist monasteries in the southeastern United States to consider the intersections of solitude, family, music, and landscape. Its lines unspool in a loose and echoing blank verse that investigates monastic rules, sunlight, Saint Basil, turnips, Thomas Merton, saddle-backed caterpillars, John Prine, fatherhood, and everything in between. Looking inside and outside the self, Perry asks, what, or whom, are we serving? Winner of the Backwaters Prize in Poetry, this essay in verse contemplates the meaning of solitude and its contemporary ramifications in a time of uncertainty.
Reviews / Votes
"A remarkable addition to the company of book-length, broadly inclusive poems like James McMichael's Four Good Things and C. S. Giscombe's Giscome Road. . . . In blank verse that is flexible and assured, the poet's attention runs the gamut from Saint Basil to Willie Nelson, from dulcimer acoustics to the caterpillars that eat his blueberry plants. The voice here is neighborly, its pacing exquisite. Perry's rich meditation on nature, community, and the different forms of love brims with music and insight."-Don Bogen, author of Immediate Song "With one of the greatest opening lines for a book ever, 'Listen, child of God, to Willie Nelson,' Long Rules is a joy to read. It calls itself an essay in verse, following a steady form so effortlessly you half forget it's not just an essay. And the skill in putting these poems together is amazing to experience as a reader. The poet teaches about theology and contemplation through musings on songwriters and musicians, making centuries-old thoughts seem at home with us today."-Matt Mason, state poet of Nebraska "Nathaniel Perry's Long Rules is a gentle doctrinal essay exploring the mystery by which collectivity authors solitude and prayer invents the world. . . . Long Rules is so profound and beautiful that, but for the casual asides to the reader and references to contemporary singers, I would half think it was the lost work of some wise soul from the deep past."-Jennifer Moxley, author of Druthers and The Open SecretMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Lincoln
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 illustration
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 203 mm
Thickness: 3 mm
Weight
136 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4962-2798-0 (9781496227980)
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

E-Book
11/2021
University of Nebraska Press
€16.99
Available for download

E-Book
11/2021
University of Nebraska Press
€16.99
Available for download
Person
Nathaniel Perry is the author of Nine Acres, winner of the American Poetry Review's Honickman First Book Prize. He teaches at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, where he edits the Hampden-Sydney Poetry Review.
Content
I. Our Lady of the Angels: Crozet, Virginia
II. Holy Cross Abbey: Berryville, Virginia
III. Mepkin Abbey: Moncks Corner, South Carolina
IV. Our Lady of Gethsemani: New Haven, Kentucky
V. Cumberland County, Virginia
VI. Monastery of the Holy Spirit: Conyers, Georgia
Acknowledgments
II. Holy Cross Abbey: Berryville, Virginia
III. Mepkin Abbey: Moncks Corner, South Carolina
IV. Our Lady of Gethsemani: New Haven, Kentucky
V. Cumberland County, Virginia
VI. Monastery of the Holy Spirit: Conyers, Georgia
Acknowledgments