Böcker av Luray Gross

Luray Gross's With This Body has through lines: early life on a farm, body connections, reactions to current events and traumas, the refuge of words. Dedicated to "all who have lost a child," that child could be a younger self, as well as one lost to illness or tragic circumstance. Often in these poems the adult watches the young self, times and lives overlapping. The effect is delicate; our empathy is cajoled. Many poems are reactions to poets, almost letters, among them to Jane Hirshfield, Richard Hugo, Samira Negrouche, and many more. Gross's impulse to communicate with other writers is expansive yet personal. And as readers, we are always welcome in the conversation. In the center of this book, "What the Poem Carries" spells out some of the magic of these poems:This poem wants to blend in a chorus,sounding any note of the chord.andThis poem knows we all need a break from despairand all that residual sadness. It's been around long enoughto know that the blues are really love songsand making peace with terroris the price you pay to stay alive.The same or similar ideas and images keep turning up-a favorite sweater, interactions while teaching kids, figures that inhabit a recognizable world. With This Body is a house of many rooms, companionable. It'll get into your dreams.-Valerie Fox, author of Insomniatic

An original collection of poems by Luray Gross. "Luray Gross' Lift represents the work of an accomplished poet at the height of her powers. Assured and lyrical, with no word wasted, Gross' poems are precisely observed while containing multitudes. On subjects that range from childhood, adulthood, and family life to religious faith, war, and social justice, the stories Gross tells are united in their power to move us toward a new recognition of our shared humanity. Gross assures us, 'Language will not abandon us/ will say what needs to be said, enough/ to make the world a burden we can bear.' Thankfully, we have this graceful poet to lift us out of complacency and despair and to elevate our understanding." -Ethel Rackin, author of Evening