Description

"Morning Poems is a sensational collection — Robert Bly's best in many years. Inspired by the example of William Stafford, Bly decided to embark on the project of writing a daily poem: Every morning he would stay in bed until he had completed the day's work. These 'little adventures/In Morning longing,' as he calls them, address classic poetic subjects (childhood, the seasons, death and heaven) in a way that capitalizes fully on the pun in the book's title. These are morning poems, full of the delight and mystery of waking in a new day, and they also do their share of mourning, elegizing the deceases and capturing the 'moment of sorror before creation.' Some of the poems are dialogues where unconventional speakers include mice, maple trees, bundles of grain, the body, the 'oldest mind' and the soul. A particularly moving sequence involves Bly's imaginative transactions with a great and unlikely precursor, Wallace Stevens. The whole is a fascinating and original book from one of our most fascinating authors."

— David Lehman

What happens when a master poet commits to writing one poem every morning?

A Daily Poetic Practice: Inspired by William Stafford, these poems were born in the quiet moments between waking and rising, capturing the raw material of the day. Meditative Poems: A profound exploration of classic subjects—childhood, the seasons, mortality, and grace—that finds the extraordinary in the ordinary. Spiritual Dialogues: Listen in on surprising conversations with mice, maple trees, the human soul, and even the great poet Wallace Stevens. Morning and Mourning: A clever play on words grounds the collection, which celebrates the delight of a new day while elegizing what has been lost.