The Caged Owl: New and Selected Poems - Gregory Orr

n nGregory Orr's genius is the transformation of trauma into art. Whether writing about his responsibility for a brother's death during a hunting accident, drug addiction, or being jailed during the Civil Rights struggle, lyricism erupts in the midst of desolation and violence. Orr's spare, succinct poems distill myth from the domestic and display a richness of action and visual detail.n nThis long-awaited collection is soulful work from a remarkable poet, whose poems have been described as mystical, carnal, reflective, and wry. (San Francisco Review)n nLove Poemn nA black biplane crashes through the window n of the luncheonette.

The pilot climbs down, n removing his leather hood. n He hands me my grandmother's jade ring. n No, it is two robin's eggs and n a telephone number: yours.n nfrom Gathering the Bones Togethern nA father and his four sons n run down a slope toward n a deer they just killed.

n the father and two sons carry n rifles. They laugh, jostle, n and chatter together. n A gun goes off n and the youngest brother n falls to the ground.

n A boy with a rifle n stands beside him, n screaming...n nOrr's is an immaculate style of latent violence and inhibited tenderness, charged with a desperate intensity whose source is often obscure.--The New York Times Book Reviewn nGregory Orr is the author of seven volumes of poetry and three books of criticism. He is the editor at Virginia Quarterly Review, teaches at the University of Virginia, and lives with his wife and daughters in Charlottesville. In 2002, along with his selected poems The Caged Owl, he will also publish a memoir and a book about poetry writing: Three Strange