Brilliant Water

(Paperback)

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Description

A striking new collection by a poet W. S. Merwin calls "gifted, audacious, and accomplished."

A prolific journalist, Merrill's most recent work, two non-fiction books on the crisis in the Balkans, have received tremendous critical acclaim. With this collection, he returns for the first time in seven years to the form closest to his heart: poetry. "No anxiety of influence prevails here; nor is there evidence of a desire to follow any models too closely. Rather, there is a generosity that names names, offers praise, then contributes something new. Merrill lives in a landscape of names, surrounded by eloquent scraps of language allowing him to chant the senses' progress through the world.John Elder, The Los Angeles Times

Christopher Merrill is Director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

Reviews

"Merill has an unusual ability to place himself in the midst of things, describe the immediate scene, and then reach through the scene to explore our place within it... His range of form and subject matter is enormous and, as one moves from the early, highly lyrical poems of 'Workbook' to the new selection of tougher, more chiselled poems in 'Luck', one is struck not just by the growth of Merill's imagination but also by his tireless search for a language that captures the vitality of experience..." -- Publishers Weekly.

Author Bio

Christopher Merrill's poems, essays, fiction, and reviews have appeared in many publications. He has published three collections of poems, several books of translations, a non-fiction book on soccer, and a non-fiction book on the Balkan tragedy. He is the Director of the International Program at the Iowa Writers Workshop.