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A striking compilation of original, lyrical love poetry

The Girl in Glass: Love Poems
William Jay Smith
Manufacturer: Helen Marx Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Orchard Lamps
Birds and Beasts

ASIN: 1885586590

Book Description

"Now touch the air softly,/Step gently, One, two. . ./I'll love you till roses and robin's-egg blue;/I'll love you till gravel/Is eaten for bread,/And lemons are orange,/And lavender's red." So begins "A Pavane for the Nursery," one of William Jay Smith's most celebrated and charming love poems. Collected here for the first time are this and many more of Smith's enchanting paeans to love, a bevy of bewitched words of the sort no loved one could ever hear enough. Whether committed to a delighted reader's memory, recited out loud at a romantic wedding, or set to music by a love-struck composer (as Ned Rorem has done), the poems in this intimate book, illustrated by the late Ukrainian woodcut master Jacques Hnizdovsky, bespeak love in a variety of forms. Also included are striking translations of such poets as Frederico Garcia Lorca and Jacques Prevert.

A most gifted and original poet ... One of the very few who cannot be confused with anybody else. --Richard Wilbur [Smith] is rooted in the concrete and the sensuous--in sight, sound, and touch ... That he has written poems replete with rhythm, rhyme, wit, and melody ... is cause for celebration, homage, and gratitude. --Elizabeth Frank, "The Atlantic Monthly"
Poetry by William Jay Smith. Illustrations by Jacques Hnizdovsky.

5.5 x 6.5 in.
31 b/w illustrations

Customer Reviews:

A striking compilation of original, lyrical love poetry.......2002-08-04

A striking compilation of original, lyrical love poetry by William Jay Smith, and impressively illustrated by Jacques Hnizdovsky's fantastic black-and-white woodcuts, The Girl In Glass is a moving, heartfelt compilation of verse. An ideal giftbook for poetry fanciers, The Girl In Glass features brief yet sensual, rhyming verse about love, sex, valentines, weddings, and the heart's desire. Night Music: The Dark air rushes by us like a cry,/Slowly the branches turn and twist and bend;/The stars, dim islands, sink into the sky,/Borne downward in a broad abyss of wind/That closes quietly to draw them under./The night's deep water swirls and mounts and falls;/Rain descends in irons, and the thunder/Cleaves the thick charged air within these walls.//Now through the darkness will a careful prow/With chart and compass gain a scheduled place;/Now hands will calmly bend above a brow,/Now lips will lower to a trembling face;/And love within the constant mounting crests/Will break with equal fury from our breasts.

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