Tremble: Poems

by C.D. Wright

In an acclaimed collection of taut, sensual poetry, award-winning poet C.D. Wright interweaves familiar, coloquial speech with strikingly inventive language, leaving each poem a distinctive entity, yet interconnected by linked metaphors and images.

Genres: Poetry

60 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1961

About the author

C. D. Wright was born in Mountain Home, Arkansas. She earned a BA in French from Memphis State College (now the University of Memphis) in 1971 and briefly attended law school before leaving to pursue an MFA from the University of Arkansas, which she received in 1976. Her poetry thesis was titled Alla Breve Loving.

In 1977 the publishing company founded by Frank Stanford, Lost Roads Publishers, published Wright's first collection, Room Rented by A Single Woman. After Stanford died in 1978, Wright took over Lost Roads, continuing the mission of publishing new poets and starting the practice of publishing translations. In 1979, she moved to San Francisco, where she met poet Forrest Gander. Wright and Gander married in 1983 and had a son, Brecht, and co-edited Lost Roads until 2005.

In 1981, Wright lived in Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico and completed her third book of poems, Translation of the Gospel Back into Tongues. In 1983 she moved to Providence, Rhode Island to teach writing at Brown University as the Israel J. Kapstein Professor of English. In 2013,

C.D. Wright died on January 12, 2016 at the age of 67 in Barrington, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may not always understand exactly what Wright is saying, but I always enjoy how she says it. There's a certain magic and lyricism to her poetry that I never get tired of and which challenges me to look at things differently. The literary world lost a tremendous talent when she passed away earlier this year.

[Carolyn Hembree · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book so much, not only did the spine break but the poems are all in individual sheets. Why? Because the thing was open on my desk for a year while I drooled all over Wright's lyric forms and her SYNTAX and the varied speech acts in every single poem. It's stunning and slight and vicious. Woman "put the poison out."

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely collection of steamy poetry. I had not read any C.D. Wright's poetry before and after this I'll seek more of her work to explore. Was best read out loud, in rhythm.

[S P · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Because no poet’s death

Can be the sole author
of another poet’s life

What will my new instrument be

Just this water glass
this untunable spoon

Something else is out there
goddamnit

And I want to hear it'

(from 'And It Came To Pass', p17)

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

dark, intense, creepy, scary, beautiful

[Cary · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many poems in here that are worth reading over and over. "This book was influential on my poetry when I was a young man at the University of Missouri." -Cary Thomas. Wow! That guy!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wright's Tremble was an interesting combination of the lyric and the experimental. She moves deftly between the two in both voice and format. The combination creates a book that seems both sincere and shocking at the same time. Her language is mostly unadorned, and consequently each word carries a lot of meaning and the same images or phrases appear again and again through the work, stringing the poems together. Wright is not afraid to write about the more visceral, bodily side of sexual desire, a theme that characterizes this work.

[Charmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although Wright speaks on/to a variety of intimate subjects, one always has the feeling that she is terribly far removed.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice blend of airy, small, open poems and compressed, dense pieces: all tinged with sadness.

[Ryan Bollenbach]

Interesting collection of short lyrics. Some beauty, some mystery, some ornate word choices that interrupt the poems in interesting way. Definitely a fun way to encounter Wright's work after only reading her more project-y books. Definitely makes me want to explore more of her work.