Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems

by Tess Gallagher

*A Publishers Weekly Top Ten Poetry Book of Fall 2011* We brave into ourselves each time
we put on our lantern-light
and step out―as a gleam steps
out its overlapping forms
to lift a path from its nest of darkness.
―from "Midnight Lantern" In Midnight New and Selected Poems , Tess Gallagher collects her indispensable work from forty years of writing poetry, along with an ample new section written in the west of Ireland. Included in this generous book are Gallagher's signature nocturnes―for the changing Pacific Northwest, for her hardscrabble childhood, and for her late husband, Raymond Carver, and others. Her challenging new work confronts a tumultuous century's worth of art, warfare, and illness, while certifying the stubborn resilience of poetry and love. Astonishing, insightful, mischievous, an inimitable "seeing-into experience," Midnight Lantern is the essential book by a poet in the prime of her power.

Genres: Poetry

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2011

About the author

Tess Gallagher is the author of eight volumes of poetry, including Dear Ghosts, Moon Crossing Bridge, and My Black Horse. She will release her collection of New and Selected Poems entitled Midnight Lantern in October 2011. Gallagher is also the author of Amplitude, Soul Barnacles: Ten More Years with Ray, A Concert of Tenses: Essays on Poetry, and three collections of short fiction: At the Owl Woman Saloon, The Lover of Horses and Other Stories and The Man from Kinvara: Selected Stories. She also spearheaded the publication of Raymond Carvers Beginners in Library of Americas complete collection of his stories released Fall 2009. She spends time in a cottage on Lough Arrow in Co. Sligo in the West of Ireland and also lives and writes in her hometown of Port Angeles, Washington"

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find her poems somewhat weak but she was married to short prose giant Carver...... Smart no doubt and poetic with some good lines, with a reluctance pessimism which was a turn off and that is probably why the low stars. There are 5 so......... In reality, not so a bad rating. And I bought it.

[Joan Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume contains selections from each of Gallagher’s previous eight books plus new poems. Perhaps the strongest are her elegies for her late huband Raymond Carver, collected in ‘Moon Crossing Bridge’—though her succeeding books also treat the theme of that loss. My favorite is the masterful “Red Poppy” which exercises metaphor magnificently. Gallagher’s conversational style is interspersed with images that blaze suddenly and elevate her work far above the pedestrian.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't get this book finished before I had to return it, but what I read was very good. I'd like to get back to it very soon.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collection

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems by Tess Gallagher in a First Reads Giveaway!!! I am so excited to read it! I just received my copy in the mail today!!!! YAY!!!


I am giving this book 3.5 stars. I felt it started a little slow for me and had a hard time understanding a few of the first poems. But as I got farther into the book, I definitely could understand them. Some of the poems I could definitely feel her pain or her happiness.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves poetry or who would like to read a great book of poems! Tess Gallagher has shared her heart in this book and it is a joy to read.

[Rae Moreno · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took a long time to get through, but it wasn't because it was bad! In fact I rather enjoyed the poetry while I was reading it--my main problem is that none of the poetry really stood out, and even as I'm sitting here writing a review, I can't remember any of the ones I particularly enjoyed, which is a shame. I can remember saying "THIS ONE. GENIUS." etc but I can't even remember the titles or the gist of them. Their styles are all very much the same. But I think if you enjoy poetry, you will certainly enjoy this collection.

Still a good collection though!