Rising, Falling, Hovering

C.D. Wright continues to redefine the limits of poetry as the genre struggles to rediscover itself. Her experiments with form are refreshing as ever and her politics are layered in so organically that they will not, in ten years, stand out as merely "topical" references, but be the news that stays news. She is the only person I know who is really doing this work right now. In spite of her startling and discomfiting innovations, she is flesh and soul, full of grief and tenderness, always connected to a larger vision than that which is usually revealed in typically monological poetry. She is writing poetry in a time that she describes as "...no time for poetry" and yet she finds the poem, time after time, against hope.

compelling, innovative and current in its scope cd wright is a powerful poet

When poetry is at its very best it is a form of communication that compels a response from its audience. That response can arise from anywhere on the spectrum of human emotion and psychology. Such is the case with the seminal verse of C. D. Wright as compiled within the pages of "Rising, Falling, Hovering" from Copper Canyon Press. An award winning poet with twelve previously published volumes of her work, this latest and enthusiastically recommended collection is infused throughout with wit, honesty, emotional intensity, as it touches upon such diverse issues as technology, capitalism existential crisis, and candid observation of the human condition. 'Like Something Christenberry Pictured': ...stepping out of the story/ (ineluctably over, fellow travelers)/here just long enough to testify/to a blinding intensity/under that big dry socket of god/the camera mounted to capture/ordinary traffic violations/fixes instead on your final face/a single frame of unadulterated/urgency is what you see, urgency it is'.