Swan, What Shores?

by Veronica Patterson

Book Overview

Winner of the Colorado Book Award;
Winner of the Willa Literary Award
As heard on Public Radio International's The Writer's Almanac
Full of music and evocative word play, Veronica Patterson's Swan, What Shores? offers alluring poems varied in form and inventive in approach. In language that is both precise and lyrical, Patterson's work, like much of the best poetry, plumbs the human condition with depth, wit, and, above all,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814766854
• ISBN13: 9780814766859
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 94 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Grace and wisdom

Veronica Patterson writes with grace and wit, wisdom and deep caring. Often humorous and always accessible, I recommend this collection for poets and non-poets alike.

Poetic Strength

Delicate strength, metaphoric clarity, refreshing sorrow, rueful humor, unwitting beauty. No terrain is foreign to this poet. With charm, grace, and insight, Ms. Patterson tackles the familiar, whittles away the confusion, and leaves the reader with the startling truth. Thoroughly enjoyable.

a gift book

This is a book of poems to buy for everyone you love. Veronica Patterson is clearly a poet who cares deeply for the natural world and for our human frailties and impossible strengths. Her images are deep and evocative, as in her poem "Of These Feathers"--"the loon's cry pouring liquid zero/through night and flesh clean/to the edge." These poems are both brave and careful and when they go to that edge, they do so with breathtaking clarity.

Poetry with a Generous and Mature Sensibility

The poems in this volume are wry, wistful, beautiful, and hopeful at turns. They reflect a generous and mature sensibility. The poems are never self-indulgent and showy, but unlock layers of meaning quietly, gently -- almost covertly. The writer's outlook is a rare combination of modesty and insight that resonates deeply. It is no surprise this volume was awarded the much sought after New York University Prize for Poetry. Highly Recommended.