Fierce Elegy - Peter Gizzi

nPeter Gizzi's powerful new collection reminds us that the elegy is lament but also--as it has been for centuries--a work of love n nPeter Gizzi has said that the elegy is a mode that can transform a broken heart in a fierce world into a fierce heart in a broken world. For Gizzi, ferocity can be reimagined as vulnerability, bravery and discovery, a braiding of emotional and otherworldly depth, a holding open. In Gizzi's voice joy and sorrow make a complex ecosystem.

In their quest for a lyric reality, these poems remind us that elegy is lament but also--as it has been for centuries--a work of love. This new poetry, Kamau Brathwaite has written about Gizzi, taking such care of temperature--the time & details of the world--meaning the space(s) in which we live--defining love in this way. Writing along the edge.

A way of writing about hope. n n[sample poem] n nCreely Song nall that is lovely nin words, even nif gone to pieces nall that is lovely ngone, all of it nfor love and nautobiography nas if I were nwriting this nhello, listen nthe plan is nthe body and nall of it for love nnow in pieces nall that is lovely nechoes still nin life & death nstill memory ngardens open nonto windows nlovely, the charm nthat mirrors nall that was, all nthat is, lovely nin a song