Once in the West: Poems

Once in the West: Poems

<p><b>One of <i>The New York Times</i>' 10 Favorite Poetry Books of 2014</b></p><p><b>National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist</b></p><p><b>Winner of the 2</b><b>015 Philosophical Society of Texas Award of Merit in </b><b>Poetry</b><br><b></b><br><b></b><br><b>A searing new collection from one of our country's most important poets</b><br><b></b><br><i>Memories mercies</i><br><i>mostly aren't</i><br><i></i><br><i>but there were</i><br><i>I swear</i><br><i> days</i><br><i>veined with grace</i><br><i></i><br><i></i>ۥfrom "Memory's Mercies"</p><p><i>Once in the West</i>, Christian Wiman's fourth collection, is as intense and intimate as poetry getsۥfrom the "suffering of primal silence" that it plumbs to the "rockshriek of joy" that it achieves and enables. Readers of Wiman's earlier books will recognize the sharp characterizations and humorۥ"From her I learned the earthworm's exemplary open-mindedness, / its engine of discriminate shit"ۥas well as his particular brand of reverent rage: "Lord if I implore you please just please leave me alone / is that a prayer that's every instant answered?" But there is something new here, too: moving love poems to his wife, tender glimpses of his children, and, amid the onslaughts of illness and fear and failures, "a trace / of peace."</p>