Reign of Snakes

by Robert Wrigley

Described by the late James Dickey as "one of the finest new poets to come along in years," Robert Wrigley fulfills that early promise with this, his newest collection. Reign of Snakes is a book about desire, the soul's desire as much as the body's. As Jane Hirshfield said of Wrigley's previous book, In the Bank of Beautiful Sins (Penguin, 1995), "To read it is to unpeel a little further into the human, and into the wideness that holds the human--a splendid gift." Reign of Snakes takes us to yet another level, deep into the daily devotions, "where the dark blows a kiss to night." . . . a frigid day in February and a full-grownrattlesnake curled to a comma in the middle of the middle of the just-plowed road. Ice ghost, I think, curve of rock or stubbed-off branch. But the diamonds are there, under a dust of crystals looming, impossible, summer's tattoo, the mythical argyle of evil. --from " Reign of Snakes "

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

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

[Jessica Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am most interested in the description of place in Wrigley's poems. His eloquent descriptions of nature are not too decorative or ornate but are rather still inviting to the reader and seem fitting to the landscape-he places us so well in time, city, animal, country. Reign of Snakes reads to me almost as bulbous meditations. Wrigley can narrow the lens in, very minutely to nature through exquisite use of sound and metaphor, while still insinuating himself into the landscape, thereby giving us a narrative to hang onto and move us through the poems. I’m most interested in the first two sections of the book, with their sprawling images and simultaneous clarity. For some odd reason the first two sections of this book made me think of Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer. I couldn’t figure out why at first, and then remembered that she has a section in that book from the perspective of the coyote. Although Wrigley’s poems are not written from the narrative perspective of the animal and nature’s voice isn’t personified, I feel brought so close to nature that I can clearly hear and understand the voice and perspective, if that makes sense. Part of this might be in his tender approach to the world around him. He isn’t taking a position-that nature, or the earth is dead and gone, or, that it’s so wonderful it should be praised and lifted with wild abandon. Instead, he paints his surroundings with clarity and precision. The Afterlife and Amazing Grace are where I see this most incessantly and clearly. These poems usher us into each section, illustrating his place or position in the world and on equal footing bringing in all the songs and impulses of the animals and landscape around him.

[Brian Wasserman · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Impression: the diction strives for lyricism, but comes off as pretentious, and there is overall lack of poetic economy. In many poems the word choice seem like an onslaught of pretense, its as if the poems were a recipe that called for salt, and every poem is saturated with too much salt as opposed to an amount of salt that would be much more appropriate to the tastes and appreciation of the readers and to the standards of the recipe. Embedded within the poems there are great ideas worthy of examination, so there is definitely careful thought within them, just the word choice seems too overzealous.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was the first Robert Wrigley book I read and have continued to his books as they are published. He taught me to not be afraid of tackling the violence within nature. That subjects I shied away from, both reading and writing, can become compelling and beautiful in well crafted poems.

[Mackenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up at a bookstore, scanned a few poems and bought it based solely on merit. After many re-reads, I still love this volume.

[Amy Webster-Bo · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good, some of the poems were Prey, Open Grave, Sad Moose, Pumpkin tree, Ice Fishing, and Reign of snakes (long one) were pretty good

[Parker Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Dr. May for assigning me this poet after only knowing me for a month. You were so right to give me a guy who writes about trout fishing and nature and discomfort with masculinity. Real Af

[Catrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book at a thrift store for a dollar and the cover art was intriguing. I’m not one to read poetry so I don’t know why I bought and started this book with the idea that I would suddenly love it? That’s my own issue, not the books.

The poetry itself was nice although I wasn’t a fan of some of the subject matter.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended to me by a good friend. And he wasn't wrong.

This is an amazing collection of poetry that deserves a much longer review from me and I hope to come back to this post at a later date and say more.

However, just know that this is a deeply profound collection by a poet that I hope to have the chance to read much much more by.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know a lot about poetry, but I enjoyed Wrigley's choice of stories to make into poetry. They were easy to "get" and read too. I'd like to read everything he's written.

[Kyla · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine collection of nature-inspired poetry.