Splitting and Binding

by Pattiann Rogers

These intense and intelligent poems resist oblivion and void in an infinite process of fulfillment of potentiality. Beginning with death, they evolve into the immortality of transformation. A dead star becomes marsh, a disintegrated sun sings in the rubbings and gratings of the red-legged locust. The mind, ancestor of the sky, contemplates "the nature of itself/ In the motion of stars"; "the mind /Has been obligated from the beginning/ To create an ordered universe/ AS the only possible proof/ OF its own inheritance." Uniting and separating, splitting and binding."

Pattiann Rogers see mythic patterns in the changing motions of the universe - "green grain of jelly-seed rotating slowly, / Turning by multiple yellow hairs to place/ Its cold side trapped in a cathedral, transfigured by light of the shinning dove;; a whale aligning "its narrow eye" to "the bright star - point of Polaris." Her poetry is metaphysical and physical, intellectual and sensuous, it has a controlled passion that joins body and spirit - "the soul believes of itself." It finds energy and healing in the dream of life.

Genres: Poetry

61 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1989

Reviews

[David Anthony Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pattiann Rogers is that rare poet who writes with the lyrical love of nature that Wordsworth had but without any false sentimentality. Instead, she brings the eye of the scientist together with the heart of the naturalist. She is unafraid to face the harsh reality of life and death in her own existence or in the natural or human world around her. This mid-career collection shows Rogers at her best.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

terrific book of poems. you want to roll around on the ground in her language. her writing is very earthy.