Be With
Poems of loss, memory, and cultural connection
Format:Paperback
Publisher:New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published:21st Sep '18
Should be back in stock very soon
In Be With, Forrest Gander explores themes of loss, memory, and connection through poignant poetry, reflecting personal and cultural narratives.
In Be With, Forrest Gander draws upon his rich background as a translator to create a profound exploration of loss and connection. The opening section features a poignant version of a poem by the Spanish mystical poet St. John of the Cross, setting a deeply elegiac tone. Gander's ability to weave together various languages and cultures is evident as he delves into the complex geological and cultural history of the U.S.-Mexico border in a long multilingual poem. This exploration not only highlights the physical landscape but also reflects the intricate human narratives that shape this region.
The third section of Be With is particularly moving, as Gander shares his personal journey in caring for his mother, who is battling Alzheimer's disease. These poems resonate with a heartfelt authenticity, transforming his experiences into lyrical hymns that evoke both reverence and revelation. Gander's exploration of memory and loss is both intimate and universal, inviting readers to reflect on their own relationships and experiences.
Renowned for his innovative approach to poetry, Gander's work in Be With showcases his characteristic tensile energy and eclectic diction. Critics have noted that his style is reminiscent of Hart Crane, yet distinctly his own. The collection ultimately serves as a testament to the power of language and the human spirit in the face of adversity.
"Gander’s verses have a shattering, symphonic quality, but he uses poetry to locate and dislocate at once, pushing against the borders of meaning or pitching his camp where language estranges itself from sense. There are dazzling fragments, unraveling syntax, poems that, in their ghostliness, also force us to be alert to our own fragile lives." -- Tess Taylor - New York Times Book Review
"Be With charts the addled chronology of personal loss. Poetry often creates a supernatural-seeming rapport with the dead, but rarely has the communication between worlds felt so eerily reciprocal." -- Dan Chiasson - The New Yorker
"Life, death, and every minor phenomenon in between feels more vivid in Gander’s heartbreaking work." -- Publishers Weekly (starred)
"Utterly naked and bereft, elegies, apologies, could-have-beens, Gander grieves and wonders about what's left in his life. Reading this book may hurt, but it will help people to keep living through what they thought they could never survive." -- Craig Morgan Teicher - NPR
"If Gander’s philosophical strain and flamboyant lingo suggest Wallace Stevens, and his conversance with science and his stress on the ‘ongoing’ recall A. R. Ammons, he insinuates a knotty, digressive intensity that is fully his own." -- Bookforum
"A complex reading experience punctuated by intense beauty." -- Washington Post Book World
"Gander’s love for formal, even archaic language and the quiet complexity of his syntax can build striking abstract landscapes in which the material and spiritual worlds seem equally intelligent." -- American Poetry Review
"Written in the wake of this loss, Be With breaks form to render Gander’s own brokenness, leaving gaps in the middle of lines and channeling St. John of the Cross. Gander explores his own dark night of the soul—and, as a poet particularly concerned with ecology, the dark night of our natural world." -- Anthony Domestico - Commonweal
"Gander does not turn away from grief but dives into its awful and cathartic cascading beauty that wavers between gravity and weightlessness." -- Arkansas International
- Winner of Pulitzer Prize (Poetry) 2019
ISBN: 9780811226059
Dimensions: 216mm x 140mm x 8mm
Weight: 125g
80 pages