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Reign of Snakes by Robert Wrigley

Reign of Snakes

By Robert Wrigley

By Robert Wrigley

By Robert Wrigley

By Robert Wrigley

Best Seller

Part of Penguin Poets

Part of Penguin Poets

Category: Poetry

Category: Poetry

Paperback $18.00

Jun 01, 1999 | 112 Pages

Ebook $13.99

Jun 01, 1999 | 112 Pages

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    Reign of Snakes by Robert Wrigley
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    About Reign of Snakes

    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“

    About Reign of Snakes

    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“

    About Robert Wrigley

    Robert Wrigley is a recipient of numerous grants and fellowships. His sixth and most recent book, Lives of the Animals, won the 2004 Poets’ Prize.

    About Robert Wrigley

    Robert Wrigley is a recipient of numerous grants and fellowships. His sixth and most recent book, Lives of the Animals, won the 2004 Poets’ Prize.

    Product Details

    Category: Poetry

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Penguin Books
    Jun 01, 1999 | 112 Pages | 6 x 9 | ISBN 9780140589191

    Category: Poetry

    Ebook | $13.99
    Published by Penguin Books
    Jun 01, 1999 | 112 Pages | ISBN 9781440621291

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    Awards

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    Table Of Contents

    Reign of SnakesPart One: The Afterlife
    Why Do the Crickets Sing?
    Dark Forest
    Hoarfrost
    Flies
    Sad Moose
    Part Elegy
    Art
    Having Heard the Moon
    Open Grave

    Part Two: Amazing Grace
    The Pumpkin Tree
    Lessons
    Movies
    The Theory and Practice of Fables
    The Knowing
    After the Flood
    The Burned Cemetery
    Wanting God
    Our Father

    Part Three: Meditation at Bedrock Canyon
    Reign of Snakes

    Part Four: Night Music
    Ice Fishing
    Prey
    More Rain
    Peace
    Arrowhead
    Nostalgia
    Bodies
    Prayer for the Winter
    Conjure

    Envoy: The Name

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