Goldengrove: New and Selected Poems

by Lorna Goodison

Lorna Goodison's "Goldengrove" is a rich and varied selection of poems from "Travelling Mercies" (2001) and "Controlling the Silver" (2004), together with twenty new, previously unpublished, poems. This is a gathering from a poet at the height of her powers. Moving seamlessly between standard English and the speech of her guinea woman grandmother, and between story and song, Goodison brings dignity to the everyday and grace to all our experiences. Derek Walcott refers to Goodison's latest poems as 'a triumph of fusions' and asks, 'What is the rare quality that has gone out of poetry that these marvellous poems restore? Joy.'

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Lorna Goodison was born in Jamaica, and has won numerous awards for her writing in both poetry and prose, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Musgrave Gold Medal from Jamaica, the Henry Russel Award for Exceptional Creative Work from the University of Michigan, and one of Canada’s largest literary prizes, the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her People (2007). Her work has been included in the major anthologies and collections of contemporary poetry over the past twenty-five years, such as the Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, the Harper Collins World Reader, the Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry, the Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, and Longman Masters of British Literature.

Along with her award winning memoir, she has published three collections of short stories (including By Love Possessed, 2011) and nine collections of poetry.

Her work has been translated into many languages, and she has been a central figure at literary festivals throughout the world. Lorna Goodison teaches at the University of Michigan, where she is the Lemuel A. Johnson Professor of English and African and Afro American Studies.

Reviews

[Jherane Patmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This felt like a beautiful personal and communal history book.