Deep Light is not a poetry collection, if collection
implies merely a gathering of similar objects. Nor is it a chronological
compilation of work from the author’s previous books. The poems
in Deep Light have been selected and arranged to create a continuous,
unified text. Like McClanahan’s description of gray doves “tipping
across the gravel / their shadows pumping before them,” the poems
move forward in an alternating dance of light and shade. In the brightest
places of our world, suggests this poet, grief and loss cast their shadows.
But even in the darkest places, light makes its way.
PRAISE FOR THE POETRY OF REBECCA MCCLANAHAN
on Mrs. Houdini
This work transforms the mythic into the personal, the personal into the
mythic.
–Poetry Society of America
No one has written poems of the feminine experience that are less strident
or more profoundly political.
–Rodney Jones
on The Intersection of X and Y
These open-eyed poems, scanting no loss or error we have made, are full
of the stunned pleasure of being alert, and offer that gift to their lucky
readers.
–William Matthews
...a quiet, powerful book–like good southern bourbon–about
lovers and families and all those unexpected turns our lives take. Ms.
McClanahan, deft and sly, narrates tales where they kiss and tell and
love remains at the center of everything.
–Dave Smith
on Naked as Eve
These resourceful poems beckon to us with their music, subtle wit and
insight into human foibles and desire. They insinuate themselves in memory
and won’t let go.
–Colette Inez
on Mother Tongue
The energy of this poet, the determination, snaps and crackles like a
lion tamer's whip. Expect to be surprised, moved and changed.
–The Arts Journal
Out of the small and ordinary these poems make things new and mysterious,
immeasurable and simply wonderful.
–George Garrett
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