Dark Wild Realm

The award-winning poet Michael Collier''s elegiac fifth collection is haunted by spectral figures and a strange, vivid chorus of birds: From a cardinal that crashes into a window to a gathering of turkey vultures, Collier engages birds as myth-makers and lively messengers, carrying memories from lost friends. The mystery of death and the vital absence it creates are the real subjects of the book. Collier juxtaposes moments of quotidian revelation, like waking to the laughing sounds of bird song, with the drama of Greek tragedy, taking on voices from Medea. As Vanity Fair praised, his poems "tread nimbly between moments of everyday transcendence and spiritual pining."

About the author

Michael Collier has been the director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and has taught English at the University of Maryland, College Park. His previous volumes of poetry are THE CLASP AND OTHER POEMS, THE FOLDED HEART, THE NEIGHBOR, and THE LEDGE, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Collier is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, NEA fellowships, and the Discovery/The Nation Award, among other honors. He resides in Maryland.

Product details

• Authors: Michael Collier
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.2007
• EAN: 9780618919918
• ISBN: 978-0-618-91991-8
• No. of pages: 80
• Dimensions: 140 mm x 210 mm x 6 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Europe, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Sense of place, United States of America, USA, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Classic and pre-20th century poetry, Ancient, classical and medieval texts, POETRY: American / General, POETRY: Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss, POETRY: Subjects & Themes / Places, POETRY: Ancient & Classical, POETRY: European / General, POETRY: Subjects & Themes / Nature, POETRY: Subjects & Themes / Family, Narrative theme: Environmental issues / the natural world, POETRY: Subjects & Themes / Religious