Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems

by Robert Wrigley

One of his generation's most accomplished poets, Robert Wrigley is renowned for his ironic, powerful, and lucid style as well as his ability to fuse narrative and lyrical impulses. Earthly Meditations features nineteen original poems alongside a collection of sixty-one poems chosen from his first six books.

Genres: Poetry

175 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2006

About the author

Robert Wrigley is the author of seven books of poetry, including, most recently, Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems (Penguin, 2006); Lives of the Animals (Penguin, 2003), winner of the 2005 Poets Prize; and Reign of Snakes (Penguin, 1999), winner of the 2000 Kingsley Tufts Award in Poetry. His book, In the Bank of Beautiful Sins (Penguin, 1995) won the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award, and his poems have appeared in many periodicals, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, and The American Poetry Review. His poems have been reprinted twice in the Best American Poetry anthologies, and five times in the Pushcart Prize collections. Recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts, Wrigley is Professor of English and teaches in the MFA Program in Writing at the University of Idaho. He lives in the woods near Moscow, Idaho, with his wife, the writer Kim Barnes. "

Reviews

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was bowled over by the newest and oldest poems in this collection, less so by the ones in between. At his best, Wrigley made me feel that he could write a great poem about anything. His ear is fantastic, and he seems to feel his way through a poem so well, making it feel not authentic, but organic.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been in love with Robert Wrigley's way of crafting language since I heard him read in college. Nature is always present in his poems and always has something to give us, whether that gift be comforting or challenging. I seem to come back to his work when I most need comfort or forgiveness - and I almost always find it.

[Will Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these poems are sweet, more are a bit racey, several I missed the message. This collection seemed to speak to me in a visceral way. I was shocked in memories long forgotten. The language play was interesting and lively, educating and reminiscing. There was only a few wilderness, natural, nature poems.

[Janée Baugher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Narrative, epic poems that push on their subject matters so much so that they virtually bust open the seams of the language constraints.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the poems are startlingly good -- Letter to a Young Poet, Cigarettes are two that spring to mind. I went to a Penn sponsored reading of Wrigley's

He has a narrative style that seems quite subtle. When it works, it grips me because the description of place and situation evokes something very concrete. Sometimes the narrative itself seems out of place or forced, though.

[William Stobb]

In addition to being deeply intelligent, emotionally charged, and challenging, these poems are extremely well-crafted. Wrigley's a real master of the sentence, extending syntax over line breaks with great fluency and rich significance. One of the best new and selecteds I've read.

[Isaac Timm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessible poetry,with primal nature themes. No subject matter is out of bounds for Wrigley. Favorites: The River Itself, Enemy, Civics, Review, The Bird's Mouth, From Lumaghi Mine, Heart Attack, Torch Songs, The Glow, The Owl and Bridge.

[Bobbi Martens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wrigley is one of my favorite contemporary poets. This collection being in my possession makes me quite happy.