The Wreck of Birds

Rebecca Givens Rolland embraces an assimilation of internal feeling and thought with circumstances of the natural world and the conflicts and triumphs of our human endeavors. Here, we discover a language that seeks to at once replicate and transcend experiences of loss and disaster, and together with the poet ''we hope that such bold fates will not forget us.'' Even at the speaker's most vulnerable moments, when ''Each word we d spoken / scowls back, mirrored in barrels of wind'' these personal poems insist on renewal. With daring honesty and formal skill, The Wreck of Birds achieves a revelatory otherness what Keats called the ''soul-making task'' of poetry. -- Walter E. Butts, 2009-2014 New Hampshire Poet LaureateThe May Sarton New Hampshire Prize is named for May Sarton, the renowned novelist, memoirist, poet, and feminist (1912-1995) who lived for many years in Nelson, New Hampshire, not far from Peterborough, home of William L. Bauhan Publishing. Bill Bauhan was honored to publish Sarton's poetry collection, As Does New Hampshire in 1968. To celebrate the 2012 centennial of Sarton's birth, Bauhan Publishing inaugurated the May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize. This year's judge was the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, Walter Butts.Table of ContentsCustodyText MessageScapeWe Were About to SpeakOne FacultyBetween PanesSpider in the Community OrchardImaging the Final DestinationThe Reach of SpringtimeThe Underworld in SpringtimeEven QuieterThe Oracle's ComplaintWhile the Lady Sang onLeft, No ArrowManA Looser Version of the Same HistoryVoices from the Faded WildernessPortrait Post DisasterThe Wreck of BirdsTwo Months of No MusicFallowAfter Searching Acres of FieldInside the Unlit HouseLittle Red Goes to WarOff-OffStreet CleaningGenerationAfter the Theater pieceConRequiemTubHowever, I Did Say YesLandscape Not Meant as LossIn the Patient's MemoryIn Her House, ShadowScaffoldPatienceDictation from the IslandAerialAfter the Unresolved ArgumentGreenhouseImaging the OutdoorsEasier HarborsThe Patient's Swallows Seen on the X-Ray ScreenSelf-Portrait Before the DecisionAbove Eye LevelWinterExit PapersAt Three Thousand FeetTunnelBird Soup, Russian MeatAfter the Unnamed CatastropheSong of the Last Living MenThe Oracle Encounters Competing MythsConceptionStorkPlumbThe Process of Keeping MemoriesVersoGo Ahead