Morning Poems

"Morning Poems is a sensational collection — Robert Blys best in many years. Inspired by the example of William Stafford, Bly decided to embark on the project of writing a daily poem: Every morning he would stay in bed until he had completed the days work. These little adventures/In Morning longing, as he calls them, address classic poetic subjects (childhood, the seasons, death and heaven) in a way that capitalizes fully on the pun in the books title. These are morning poems, full of the delight and mystery of waking in a new day, and they also do their share of mourning, elegizing the deceases and capturing the moment of sorror before creation. Some of the poems are dialogues where unconventional speakers include mice, maple trees, bundles of grain, the body, the oldest mind and the soul. A particularly moving sequence involves Blys imaginative transactions with a great and unlikely precursor, Wallace Stevens. The whole is a fascinating and original book from one of our most fascinating authors."

— David Lehman

What happens when a master poet commits to writing one poem every morning?