Dead Men's Praise: Poems

I recently heard Osherow at a reading and was struck by the cleverness of her language, the sound of her poetry and the insight and beauty of her thoughts. Had I not heard her in person, I would certainly read her poetry quite differently, and perhaps even enjoy it slightly less. This is because she reads quite quickly, not slowly intoning each word like the tolling of a bell, but with a certain melody and free flowing style that is appropriate to the conversational tone of many of her poems. This is not to say that this is light verse! She is one of the few poets to tackle religious themes and do it well (obviously Geoffrey Hill would be another, very different, example). I hope you may keep some of these things in mind when you read this work, and do read it! (out loud, of course!)