Gerald Stern

Last Blue

"Stern's bebop poems shimmer and shadow-dance down the page."—Booklist

Following his National Book Award winner, This Time, Gerald Stern further explores history and memory, the casual miracles of relationships, and his irrevocable connection to the natural world.

The weight of history and the bouyance of memory, the casual miracles of relationships, and his irrevocable connection to the natural world are some of Gerald Stern's ongoing themes in this new book. The poems in Last Blue range in tone from the joyously unrestrained to the quietly somber. A Stern poem can begin with the majestic cadences of an Old Testament psalm, turn on an almost invisible hinge, and bring into focus the smallest detail. Here is a radiant collection from an essential voice in American poetry.

"Every object is a test of his attention, as if he had to take notice of every single thing in the world."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"His achievement is immense."—Grace Schulman, The Nation