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THE SHADOW OF SIRIUS By: W.S. Merwin
Copper Canyon Press
September 2008
On Sale: September 1, 2008
120 pages ISBN: 1556592841 EAN: 9781556592843 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Featured on NPR's "Fresh Air" and "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS. Honored as one of the "Best Books of the Year" from Publishers Weekly. βMerwin is one of the great poets of our age.ββLos Angeles Times Book Review "[Merwin's] best book in a decadeβand one of the best outright... The poems... feel fresh and awake with a simplicity that can only be called wisdom." βPublishers Weekly "Merwin's gentle wisdom and attentiveness to the world are alive as ever. These deeply reflective meditations move through light and darkness, old love and turning seasons to probe the core of human existence." βOrion The nuanced mysteries of light, darkness, presence, and memory are central themes in W.S. Merwinβs new book of poems. βI have only what I remember,β Merwin admits, and his memories are focused and profoundβthe distinct qualities of autumn light, a conversation with a boyhood teacher, well-cultivated loves, and βour long evenings and astonishment.β In βPhotographer,β Merwin presents the scene where armloads of antique glass negatives are saved from a dumpcart by βsomeone who understood.β In βEmpty Lot,β Merwin evokes a child lying in bed at night, listening to the muffled dynamite blasts of coal mining near his home, and we canβt help but ask: How shall we mine our lives? somewhere the Perseids are falling toward us already at a speed that would burn us alive if we could believe it but in the stillness after the rain ends nothing is to be heard but the drops falling
 Media BuzzFresh Air - NPR - July 2, 2010 All Things Considered - April 21, 2009 Fresh Air - NPR - April 21, 2009
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