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Reviews“There is a natural ecstatic in Steven Nightingale, whom one might situate on a scale between Emerson and Rumi. And there is also a craftsman–with a jeweler’s or a watchmaker’s meticulousness–who wants to make the sonnet mirror his wonder at the architecture of things. They are both very present in this, his third sonnet sequence and they make a labor of praise and a praise out of labor.” “Here in these 99 sonnets, we are invited into a poet’s imagination as it is fulfilled through a singular form. In case we’ve forgotten the examples of Shakespeare and Petrarch, we are here reminded that form, even one form, can allow a supple intelligence to display its full range and power even as it invokes the body in all its wonders and joys. Here, we find joined the force of ear and mind, both bent entirely upon delight.” |
Introduction
To venture into that wild country, in hopes of understanding, we need help. Poetry is here to help. It is our helpmate, our provision, our surety; it gives us the forms in which we may hold meaning, all in the name of what we love, in devotion to those we love. It’s our chance to gather, concentrate, and clarify experience, so as to give it away into other hands, in hopes that it may be accepted, that it may be of service. Whatever our suffering, most of us know that here on earth we will come round to days and nights of irresistible beauty. We will have our chance to give thanks, to learn, to love the little girl coming into the room; to praise and cherish our mate, to offer all we have to our friends. And we will have the sacred chance to love strangers. You, reader, are a stranger to me. These sonnets are written for you, and though I may be a wandering, worn, idiosyncratic man, I pray you might be willing to take this book in hand. It is the simplest fact of this labor: I write with all I have and hope, and I write for you. You are present to me, always. I think of you, your powers and generosity, your hardships, your searching, your openheartedness. Only in your hands, does a book count for anything. Only by your understanding, does beauty come fully alive. Only by your good will and good work, will history be answered and darkness undone. —S.N. |