Sources

by Devin Johnston

“Sparkling with energy and intelligence, these poems are like chips in a mosaic, spare, hard, precise, and with a classic humanity and grace.”—David Malouf

“The poems are exquisite and comprehensive. Their music and surface beauty invite intense scrutiny, asking us to look deeper and better—at the objects they describe, but more importantly at the resources and effects of description itself.”—The Chicago Review

Sources, Devin Johnston’s third book of poetry, returns ad fontes: to sources in Greek and Latin, secret derivations, wellsprings of feeling, and forces of nature. Sonically alert, these poems attend to the world with restless curiosity.

Born in 1970, Devin Johnston, author of two previous books of poetry and a book of criticism, currently lives in St. Louis. He teaches at Saint Louis University and directs Flood Editions, an independent publisher of poetry.

Genres: Poetry

74 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Born in Canton, New York, Devin Johnston grew up in Winston-Salem and received his PhD from the University of Chicago. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Far-Fetched (2015), Sources (2008), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Aversions (2004), and Telepathy (2001). His prose writing includes the critical study Precipitations: Contemporary American Poetry as Occult Practice (2002) and Creaturely and Other Essays (2009). A former poetry editor for the Chicago Review from 1995-2000, Johnston co-founded and co-edits Flood Editions with Michael O’Leary.

He lives in St. Louis and teaches at Saint Louis University.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect book.

[Kristin Prevallet]

Amazing evocation of classical sources for language's poetic hold in the contemporary - Euripides is reincarnated in "After Propertius," and I love "Biography."

[Michelle Hoogterp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely liked this. I look forward to reading more.