In Beauty Bright
Poems
29 July 2014
Description
“The work of an American master.”—World Literature Today
The lyric poems of In Beauty Bright, although marked by the same passion and swiftness as Gerald Stern’s previous work, move into an area of knowledge—even wisdom—that reflects a long life of writing, teaching, and activism. They are poems of grief and anger, but the music is delicate and moving.
from "In Beauty Bright":
In beauty-bright and such it was like Blake’s
lily and though an angel he looked absurd
dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright store
wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping,
nor was it useless—you who know it know
how useful it is—and how he would be dead
in a minute if he were to lose it though
how do you lose a lily?
from "In Beauty Bright":
In beauty-bright and such it was like Blake’s
lily and though an angel he looked absurd
dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright store
wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping,
nor was it useless—you who know it know
how useful it is—and how he would be dead
in a minute if he were to lose it though
how do you lose a lily?
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
