This Time: New and Selected Poems

Gerald Stern just sweeps me away into his own world when I open to any page of this wonderful collection of poetry in "This Time; New and Selected Poems". If his work is new to you or you are a returning fan you will be profoundly rewarded by his powerful and haunting writing that takes you from his backyard then out everywhere into his great, wide world. His language ranges from the mystical to the perfectly frank whether set in the convoluted world of man or in the sacred space of his garden. He reaches inward and outward, he digs, he towers then reclines. He Shines! Mr. Stern is richly deserving of all of the rewards he has received and so much more. A great American voice!

Gerald Stern's book of poems demonstrates it IS his time. The selected poems cover Stern's past up to present, suspending images and thought, passing a range of emotions that then rise from within the reader. I have read and continue to re-read this collection, hear G.S.'s matter-of-fact voice lifting from pages, see his impressions as clearly as if I were seeing them with my own eyes. This is a book I take along on trips or vacations or sudden moves. If you know Gerald Stern, you'll love THIS TIME; if you don't know Stern, you'll love him before finishing only five of his poems. Lovely, lovely... and thought provoking.

Reading a Gerald Stern poem is hitching a ride on a boomerang built with words. One is going to be taken on an exhilarating emotional ride through space and then returned gently to earth not quite the same person. Many compare Stern to Whitman because of his humanity which makes his work accessible and memorable. He is a magician who turns the mundane into magnificence by writing with his whole being. A master poet who doesn't tell about experiences, rather, he shares them with his readers. Keep this book by the bedtable and dream along with these poems.

Gerald Stern is a renowned Pennsylvania author having received the following awards: Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Paterson Poetry Prize, the Lamont Poetry Prize, grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the best poem award from the American Poetry Review in 1996, and a fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. His works are symbolistic, and to truly understand a poem, one may have to read it at least three times. Titles such as "Orange Roses," "I Remember Galileo," "The Unity," "Your Animal," "Shad," "Eggshell," "All I Have Are the Tracks," "A Song for the Romeos," and "Silver Hand" are just a few of this extensive aggregation that mystifies and creates a sensational experience for the mind. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is searching for true poetry, poetry that touches the heart, poetry that creates an impact on the way you look at the world around you.