Drift and Pulse

by Kathleen Halme

In Drift and Pulse, her third book of poems, Kathleen Halme is fascinated with the domain where matter is experienced as mind. Drawing upon brain science, anthropology, and biology, these poems take aim at the big questions of form and death, how we "sublime and die." The persistent "longing for shapes as elegant as instinct," the rituals and fictions we invent to meet the needs of a ceaselessly revised universe animate the poems. Between "drift and pulse," the capacity for transcendent experience is expressed as a hard-wired process of human brain architecture.

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2007

Reviews

[Linda]

It's that time of year where Linda devours a few slim volumes of poetry to make her goal for the year. Hey, there is nothing wrong with slim volumes of poetry. This one offers great return on investment. There is something about learning how to read a poet, when you can hear them, feel the return to the ideas that have been percolating across books. Challenging but rewarding.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection expects attention from the reader. It delivers: I found myself digging in slowly, and steadily.