The Shape of a City

Exquisite new work along with a selection of her finest poems spanning five decades from the essential poet and national treasure, Frost Medal winner Grace Schulman.Again, the Dawn draws together poems fromeight books plus a generous selection of new poems. In them, Grace Schulmanhears the call to praise tempered by harsh details of city life such astrumpets that blare "louder than street sirens." and iron fences / handwrought with lyres, Greek frets, acanthus leaves." One of our essential poets, she brings passion andintelligence to bear on occasions she ponders, whether historical orcontemporary. In joy and in grief, Schulman gazes at the light and sees themajesty in ordinary things. This collection spans fivedecades of prize-winning books, and yet, as its title exclaims, the poetry ofGrace Schulman is as new as the rising sun. As Julie Sheehan has written of her most recent volume, "Read this collection if you, too, have grieved. Read it if youneed your own guide to the underworld. Read it if you've ever felt proud to getat the meaning of poems, of art, of music. Read it if you want to be restoredto the world around you, if late-stage capitalism or imperialism or politicshave numbed you. Read it, then look up, breathe in, raise your own hands, andlet Grace Schulman assure you: 'I'll be there, / gazing impiously -- unless / thatis what sacred is, the work, the looking up, / the wonder.'"