No One Can Stem the Tide

Evoking comparisons to such contemporaries as JaneKenyon, Wendell Berry, and Denise Levertov, Clement explores the varied emotions of love, longing, and loss.

In exploring the varied emotions of her long, fulfilled life - love, longing, and loss; memory, sacrifice and desire; struggle and frustration, joy and resolve - Clement's poetry reveals the tireless seeking of a generous and honest heart and offers its readers new avenues of seeing and hearing.Though most of Jane Tyson Clement’s poems remained hidden in private notebooks during her lifetime, the few that traveled beyond her hands were widely admired and drew critical acclaim. Now, with this first comprehensive anthology of her work, the public can at last discover this gifted poet and give her the audience she deserves. Evoking comparisons to such better-known contemporaries as Jane Kenyon, Wendell Berry, and Denise Levertov, Clement is direct and understated. Even when technically sophisticated, her poetry speaks with a familiar voice and draws on accessible images from the natural world. Still, these are no mere “nature poems.” In exploring the varied emotions of life – of love, longing, and loss; memory, sacrifice, and desire; struggle and frustration, joy and resolve – they reveal the tireless seeking of a generous and honest heart and beckon the reader down new avenues of seeing and hearing.