"The most recent in a line of great American transcendentalist writers."—
The New York Times
"Bly's poems flow from . . . the great current of longing for reality, true maturity, the devotee's call to the Beloved."—
The Nation
"Robert Bly changed the course of poetry in America by opening it up to the imagination and the deep-image aesthetic, he is dedicated to reintegrating poetry with life—daily life, the life of the body, spiritual and political life."—
Huffington Post
The Chinese-influenced strain of Bly's work with its room for movement, spontaneity, and openness is celebrated in
Like the New Moon I Will Live My Life
and most amply showcased in its over one hundred and fifty poems. The poems, collected from out-of-print books, chapbooks, and uncollected work spanning fifty years, form a companion to his recent
Stealing Sugar From The Castle: New and Selected Poems
.
Like The New Moon I Will Live My Life
When your privacy is beginning over,
How beautiful the things are that you did not notice before!
A few sweetclover plants
Along the road to Bellingham,
Culvert ends poking out of driveways,
Wooden corncribs, slowly falling,
What no one loves, no one rushes towards or shouts about,
What lives like the new moon,
And the wind
Blowing against the rumps of grazing cows.
Telephone wires stretched across water,
A drowning sailor standing at the foot of his mother's bed,
Grandfathers and grandsons sitting together.
Robert Bly
is one of the most influencial poets, translators, and editors of his generation.