Mind Over Matter: A Tribute to Poetry

Poetry. "How does the present imprint itself on language, on poetry? Gloria Frym's MIND OVER MATTER shows us that: the outlines of the endless wars, the credit default swaps. But it also shows poetry resisting this. 'No poem/would stand for such a line.' Frym writes. 'A poem is not a fool.' This book makes me want to cheer"—Rae Armantrout. "MIND OVER MATTER is a thoughtful meditation on poetry in our age of post-theory and reminds us that the authority of poetry has always been ours ('Without words we would fall on our faces'). Giving us 'all of summer in one word,' poetry is a form of 'living attention' It is our true home, bestows freedom in language, and understands best that 'now is as old as time.' I love this book for casting aside the postmodern clichés of poetry's limitation, preferring to see world and language in fresh relation. Here, the 'definite is infinite,' and the real resonates. Not the 'neo- / Looking out for numero uno,' largely inspired by poetry's professionalized culture, but a shrewd look at the actual and eternal worlds before us"—Paul Hoover.