The seconds : poems

Scarcely more than a decade ago, Publishers Weekly wrote in its review of the work of a little-known poet, "This haunting, evocative showcase marks Linda Bierds as a poet to follow with anticipation." They could not have been more prescient. In the years since, Bierds has gone from strength to strength. "Bierds's poems occupy a brilliant geography of landscape and imagination, expressed as passion and discovery," novelist Thomas McGuane said of that same book. Of her last, poet W. S. Merwin declared, "What an indispensable poet she has become!" while The New York Times Book Review called it "radiant," and The New Yorker hailed it as "visionary."With this new volume of poetry, Bierds continues to explore the central themes that have always concerned her: human frailty and the striving for immortality through memory and creative acts. But a new theme emerges in these poems: the longing for salvation of the mind made mad, of the body broken, of the searching soul.… (more)