Anne Carson

Blending the modern and the classical, this is the first full-length publication in Britain from Anne Carson, described by Michael Ondaatje as 'the most exciting poet writing in English today'.

Glass and God

Emiley Jones

Well there are many ways of being held prisoner,

The bare blue trees and bleached wooden sky of April

Something inside it reminds me of childhood—

it is the light of the stalled time after lunch

and mothers stand at the kitchen sink pondering

Goblins, devils and death stream behind me.

It is stunning, it is a moment like no other, 

when one's lover comes in and says I do not love you anymore.

XI of “The Fall of Rome: A Traveler’s Guide”

fæ 

stretched like a surface of millstone grit between body and mind,

Soul is what I kept watch on all that night.

We lay on top of the covers as if it weren't really a night of sleep and

caressing and singing to one another in our made-up language

That was a night that centred Heaven and Hell,

Anne Carson's poetry - characterized by various reviewers as "short talks", "essays", or "verse narratives" - combines the confessional and the critical in a voice all her own. Known as a remarkable classicist, Anne Carson in Glass, Irony and God weaves contemporary and ancient poetic strands with stunning style. This collection includes: "The Glass Essay", a powerful poem about the end of a love affair, told in the context of Carson's reading of the Bronte sisters; "Book of Isaiah", a poem evoking the deeply primitive feel of ancient Judaism; and "The Fall of Rome", about her trip to "find" Rome and her struggle to overcome feelings of a terrible alienation there.

Glass, Irony, and God

 by anne carson isn’t just a book it’s like feeling lonely next to someone who knows exactly how to fall apart beautifully. in “the glass essay,” i feel like i was  pulled into the mind of someone grieving a love while pacing across the moors and having silent conversations with emily brontë. there’s this cold, quiet grief that doesn’t beg for attention but stays with me like fog on skin. it’s vulnerable without asking for pity, just showing what it means to be entirely raw

the rest of the collection slips between scripture and heartbreak, philosophy and ache. “book of isaiah” makes god feel like someone distant but deeply watching, not out of love, but necessity. anne doesn’t try to comfort she hands  pieces of broken thought and says, here, look closely. everything feels sharp and sacred at once. reading it is like holding a cracked mirror up to my own face and not looking away

glass, irony and god by anne carson isn’t just a book it’s like feeling lonely next to someone who knows exactly how to fall apart beautifully. in “the glass essay,” i feel like i was  pulled into the mind of someone grieving a love while pacing across the moors and having silent conversations with emily brontë. there’s this cold, quiet grief that doesn’t beg for attention but stays with me like fog on skin. it’s vulnerable without asking for pity, just showing what it means to be entirely raw

the rest of the collection slips between scripture and heartbreak, philosophy and ache. “book of isaiah” makes god feel like someone distant but deeply watching, not out of love, but necessity. anne doesn’t try to comfort she hands  pieces of broken thought and says, here, look closely. everything feels sharp and sacred at once. reading it is like holding a cracked mirror up to my own face and not looking away

Kendall McClain

Staring at the wall, pondering, losing my mind, etc. etc.

Came for “The Glass Essay” and stayed for the rest. 

Prashant Prasad

‘desires as round as peaches bloom in me all night, i no longer gather what falls.’