Tricks of the light : new and selected poems / Vicki Hearne ; edited with an introduction by John Hollander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hearne, Vicki, 1946-2001.

Contributor:

Hollander, John.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From The Horse That, Trotting The horse that, trotting with open heart Against the wind, achieves bend and flow Will live forever. So far, so good, But they never do, until too late, Bend properly and time spreads from The momentary hesitations Of their spines, circles their tossing necks, Falls from their teeth like rejected oats, Litters the ground like penitence. This is where we come in, where the drop Of time congeals the air and someone Speaks to the discouraged grass . . . Tricks of the Light explores the often fraught relationships between domestic animals and humans through mythological figurations, vibrant thought, and late-modern lyrics that seem to test their own boundaries. Vicki Hearne (1946-2001), best known and celebrated today as a writer of strikingly original poetry and prose, was a capable dog and horse trainer, and sometimes controversial animal advocate. This definitive collection of Hearne's poetry spans the entirety of her illustrious career, from her first book, Nervous Horses (1980), to never-before-published poems composed on her deathbed. But no matter the source, each of her meditative, metaphysical lyrics possesses that rare combination of philosophical speculation, practical knowledge of animals, and an unusually elegant style unlike that of any other poet writing today. Before her untimely death, Hearne entrusted the manuscript to distinguished poet, scholar, and long-time friend John Hollander, whose introduction provides both critical and personal insight into the poet's magnum opus. Tricks of the Light-acute, vibrant, and deeply informed-is a sensuous reckoning of the connection between humans and the natural world. Praise for The Parts of Light "Hearne . . . strives to capture exactly what she knows she can't-the intense immediacy of animal consciousness, a consciousness free of the moral vagaries and intellectual preoccupations that pockmark human experience. Her style, smooth in some places, choppy in others, reflects both the wholeness of animal presence and the jarring, fragmentary nature of human reason and reflection. Hearne's poems demand participation, refuse passive enjoyment; she dares the reader to stay in the saddle."-Publishers Weekly

Contents:

Tricks of the Light

Frontmatter

Contents

Publisher's Note

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Posthumous Poems

Creatures of the Surface

A World of Differences

Heartdust: New Ride in Old Arroyo

Some Exactitudes of Wonder from an Old Quest Manual

Clown on Tight Rope

Getting It Right

January 6

Plato's Seventh Letter

The Old Dog

The Novice Sculptor

Opposite the Heart

Painting Over Candles

Wind Rubs Into

Every Time the Mountains

Blinded by Glory

White Out

Without Mountains

Then Philosophy

Side View (Alumna Report)

Road to Beauty

The Old Dog Now

Hounds

Upon Hearing That Helen Keller Has a Bull Pup

Going to Ground

What Philosopher

The Wax Figure Ruined

The Tree That Plucks Fruit

Dark Stars

A Subtle Gesture

Decorum of Time

Delight in a Seasonal Shift

Trained Man and Dog

So There Is Justice

Young Dog, Grass, and More

News from the Dogs

Tricks of the Light

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

from Nervous Horses (1980)

Prayer

Glitter: A Critical Essay

Riding a Nervous Horse

Ibn, Who Wouldn't Be Caught

Rebreaking Outlaw Horses in the Desert

Daedalus Broods on the Equestrian Olympic Trials

Riding a Jumper

The Archer

The Horse That, Trotting

A Problem of Form

A Country Scene

Against the Grain

Emergence

The Fifth Horseman

Bathing

Waking

The Pillar of Gold

The Exact Role of Value Judgments in War

The Singing Lesson

A Photograph

Science and Human Behavior

Camouflage

Next Summer

Agnus Dei

The Fastidiousness of the Musician

I Was Reading Ouspensky

That Hot Texas Sun

A Technical Question for My Daughter

My Father Rode Great, Silver

St. George and the Dragon: Piecing It All Together

The Metaphysical Horse

from In the Absence of Horses (1983)

Ana Halach Dodeach

Passing Over Your Virtues

Coast and Walrus

Truth on the Beach

Postcards from Jerusalem

The Claim of Speech

On R. L. S. and Happiness

Our Condition at Twilight

In the Absence of Horses

Night Track

Toward a Cultural History

An Historical Note: Staghounds

The Moral for Us

Gaugin's White Horse

Canvas with a Bit of Tyger Showing

Ierushalayim Shel Zahav

from The Parts of Light (1994)

Between Fences

Touch of Class or View from Within Any Imperial Riding Academy

The New Hound Puppy

The Figure 1

The Dog and the Word

Some General Principles of the Art of Riding

Riding Skills

A Point of Technique

Girl on a Lawn

Grasshoppers

On the Grounds of the Statewide Air Pollution Research Center

Balance at the Halt

What Transpires

The Young Airedale

The Runner and the Mountain

The Parts of Light

A Mosaic

A Breed Standard for the Border Collie

All of My Beautiful Dogs Are Dying

Ion, Released from the Vows of Love, Replies to Socrates

Huck Finn, Credulous at the Circus

Reasons Not to Own a Wolf- Dog

Before the War

Listening Post

St. Luke Painting the Virgin

Notes

A Note on the Editing

Index of Titles and First Lines

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-205) and index.

ISBN:

9786612004896

9781282004894

1282004891

9780226322469

0226322467

OCLC:

646795987