To the Green Man

"Individually and collectively, the poems in Mark Jarman's beautiful book, To the Green Man, recognize both the need for the consolations of faith and elusiveness of faith in the face of the hard facts of experience: the loss of loved ones, depression, mortal fears, the sheer contingencies of daily life. Beyond the wonderful music of his lines, the formal poise, the mix of narrative and lyric modes, what makes To the Green Man such an important and memorable book is its enactment of a spiritual struggle to be at once at home in the world and astonished by it." —Alan Shapiro

"Called or not called, God is present. These words attributed to the Delphic Oracle serve as epigraph to one of the finest poems in Mark Jarman's stunning new collection. They also point to this poet's great theme and overshadowing preoccupation: the insoluble mystery (call it God if you wish) underlying human existence and the material world. Call on God, and he is silent (and do not presume to supply him with words of your own); do not call on him, and he is nonetheless present and may indeed be calling on you. This is the ultimate paradox confronted by Jarman in poem after brilliantly executed poem—and it is his courageous confrontation of the mystery inso many of its guises that gives his work a depth and richness matched by very few poets of our time. To the Green Man is not only Mark Jarman's best book to date (there is not a weak poem in it), it is essential reading for all who wish to experience contemporary poetry at its most humane, meaningful, and profound." —Frederick Morgan