The River Twice: Poems

(Hardback)

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An impressive new collection from a poet whose previous book was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award Taking its title from Heraclitus's most famous fragment, The River Twice is an elegiac meditation on impermanence and change. The world presented in these poems is a fluid one in which so much-in

Reviews

"Winner of the UNT Rilke Prize, University of North Texas"
"Readers will find Grabers reflections on a perpetually transforming world relevant, astutely analytic, and deeply felt." * Publishers Weekly *
"I dont know where this poet has been all my life, but Ive certainly missed her those long lines that float us through ache and love and quarrels. The only thing that parallels exquisite thought is the poem that carries it. Whether shes picking up dog excrement or tasting a bitter peach or considering Mary Shelley, every word is placed exactly."---Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books
"Kathleen Graber takes readers on a fascinating, slow-motion journey in her splendid third book, The River Twice. Simple scenes or observations watching pigeons build a nest or visiting a thrift shop expand into rich meditations on change and impermanence . . . . Yet even as she contends with time, grief and fear for the planet, she brilliantly balances intelligence and heart, and never forgets the conscious act of looking for beauty"---Elizabeth Lund, The Washington Post
"[P]owerful and deeply convincing . . . [The River Twice] has an undeniable authenticity, not just in feeling but in form as well."---Bruce Whiteman, The Hudson Review
"Any admirer of Grabers previous work will be familiar already with her penchant for using the words of others to throw doubt and tension into her own poems. With The River Twice, Graber introduces Heraclitus to a list of thinkers shes wrestled with before: St. Augustine, Walter Benjamin, Marcus Aurelius, the list goes on. . . . [S]hes at her best when she allows mysterys presence into her poems."---Will Brebaker, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Borrowed from Heraclitus, the conundrum of stepping into the same river twice resonates anew in these poems, as [Kathleen] Graber examines the small tragedies witnessed close to home. . . . Her imagery burns too, from the esoteric to the mundane, all the while keeping pace with constant flow of river that washes us all along, sometimes above the surface, sometimes below."---Glen Young, Petoskey News
"Masterful self-portraits. . . . Grabers natural yet erudite voice wanders elegantly in considerations of fluidity and impermanence as she evokes Heraclituss famous fragment, You cannot step twice into the same river.. . . . A remarkable tapestry of quotidian and transcendent life."---Henry Hughes, Harvard Review

Author Bio

Kathleen Graber is the author of two previous collections of poetry, The Eternal City (Princeton), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Correspondence. She is associate professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and lives in Powhatan, Virginia.