Odd Mercy
Poems
27 August 1997
Description
"For over two decades, no one has equaled Stern's compassionate, surreal parables about the burden of and the exaltation at being alive."—Library Journal
The centerpiece of Gerald Stern's ninth collection is a long poem titled "Hot Dog," named for a beautiful street woman who lives in and around Tompkins Square Park. Other characters in this poem are St. Augustine, Walt Whitman, Noah, Gerald Stern himself, and a ninety-year-old black preacher from the Midwest. In "Hot Dog," and throughout, Stern wrestles with the issues—hope, memory, faith—that have always occupied him.
Also By: Gerald Stern 
Blessed as We Were: Late Selected and New Poems, 2000-2018
Paperback, 2023
An illuminating and irascible compilation of selected and new poems from National Book Award winner Gerald Stern
Blessed as We Were: Late Selected and New Poems, 2000-2018
Hardback, 2021
Finalist for the 2021 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection
An illuminating and irascible compilation of selected and new poems from National Book Award winner Gerald Stern.
Blessed as We Were: Late Selected and New Poems, 2000-2018
E Book, 2020
An illuminating and irascible compilation of selected and new poems from National Book Award winner Gerald Stern
Galaxy Love: Poems
Paperback, 2019
“What a voice, what a bardic roll. [Stern’s] poetry is a lifelong act of love.”— Philadelphia Inquirer
Galaxy Love: Poems
E Book, 2017
“Pure movement of mind, passion, knowledge.”—Juan Felipe Herrera