The Dream of the Marsh Wren: Writing As Reciprocal Creation (Credo) [Paperback]

Pattiann Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 1999

A poet, a mother, a lover of the land, and a student of zoology, Pattiann Rogers is at home in the vocabulary of nature. The Dream of the Marsh Wren reveals the genesis of some of her most admired poems as well as her conception of how and why she writes.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

paper 1-57131-220-5 Rogers (Eating Bread and Honey, not reviewed, etc.) seeks to situate, in plain words, the genesis of her poetry, an experience she handles with aplomb even while it lays her open. In this investigation into what it means to write, one of Milkweed's new Credo series's statements of belief, Rogers speaks of origins and sensations rather than process, which, after the form has been decided upon, is a matter of feeling her way forward with language. Her first poem grew out of a longing for and identification with autumn in the hills and woods of the Ozarks; the very act of writing about it brought her comfort and joy. It was also a ``power of my own creation to enter and alter my soul. The language had created me,'' a generative reciprocity that swung into perpetual motion for her. Much of Rogers's poetry has fixed on natural history and notions of place, giving praise to creature and landscape, deciphering how she will act honorably with them without sermonizing or sanitizing: ``that stain / of stinkhorn down your front, / that leaking roil of bracket / fungi down your back.'' The shape of a tree can possess a place for her and chart the architecture of her words; a way of seeing is hatched, where the tree ``responds to and encourages and itself takes sustenance from such human bonds.'' And these explorations into parts unknown necessarily stop at eerie stations: ``After her traditional repertoire she always plays / One piece on her violin in a register so high / The music can't be heard.'' Rogers can stumble, too, with pointless comments or not using her skillful economy in her prose, smothering the three lovely words ``hurting summer heat'' by following with ``a heavy, moist, fiery, unrelieved encumbrance.'' These are rare lapses. When a poet spills her secrets, that's a special gift. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Achieving Perspective
Before I Wake
Before The Beginning: Maybe God And A Silk Flower Concubine Perhaps
Concepts And Their Bodies (the Boy In The Field Alone)
The Creation Of Sin
The Dawn That Day
The Dead Never Fight Against Anything
The Delight Of Being Lost
The Dream Of The Marsh Wren: Reciprocal Creation
Eulogy For A Hermit Crab
The Family Is All There Is
Fetal Bat: The Creation Of The Void
For The Future Evolution Of The God Of The Abyss
Geocentric
The Gift Of Reception
'god Is In The Details,' Says Mathematician Freeman J. Dyson
The Greatest Grandeur
The Greatest Grandeur: Dedication
The Hummingbird: A Seduction
The Importance Of The Whale In The Field Of Iris
In Addition To Faith, Hope And Charity
In Order To Perceive
Inside God's Eye
Intermediary
Justification Of The Horned Lizard
Murder In The Good Land
Nude Standing Alone In The Forest: A Study Of Place
Paganini, And Rumor As Genesis
The Possible Suffering Of A God During Creation
Rolling Naked In The Morning Dew
A Self-analysis Of Dust
Suppose Your Father Was A Redbird
Supposition
The Voice Of The Precambrian Sea
When At Night
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions (June 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571312250
• ISBN-13: 978-1571312259
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,455,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an exquisite book of keen wit and redoubtable spirit, July 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dream of the Marsh Wren: Writing As Reciprocal Creation (Credo) (Paperback)

I loved the poems in this book!. They are pleasantly elusive, requiring thoughtful participation on the part of the reader, but they are not so abstract as to be incomprehensible. Rogers provides images and language, ideas and propositions, that are precise and innovative. This book is a gift that I will reread as a favorite.