Be With

PublishersWeeklyBestPoetryBookof2018ForrestGander’sfirstbookofpoemssincehisPulitzerfinalistCoreSamplesfromtheWorld:astartlinglookthroughloss,grief,andregretintotheexquisitenatureofintimacyDrawingfromhisexperienceasatranslator,ForrestGanderincludesinthefirst,powerfullyelegiacsectionaversionofapoembytheSpanishmysticalpoetSt.JohnoftheCross.HecontinueswithalongmultilingualpoemexaminingthesyncreticgeologicalandculturalhistoryoftheU.S.borderwithMexico.Thepoemsofthethirdsection―amovingtranscriptionofGander’seffortstoaddresshismotherdyingofAlzheimer’s―risefromthepagelikehymns,transformingslowlyfromreverencetorevelation.Ganderhasbeencalledoneofourmostformallyrestlesspoets,andthesenewpoemsexpressacharacteristicallytensileenergyand,asonecriticnoted,“themosteclecticdictionsinceHartCrane.”